Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle
by RangerLuv2
Summary: This is just a short A/U story. Probably only a few chapters unless my muse overdoses on caffeine along the way. Not much angst, just a little humor and romance set in a Ranger/Stephanie alternate universe. T rating could change to M if I get the nerve to try some mild smut. Characters you recognize belong to J.E. - no money being made from this story.
1. Chapter 1

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

**What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?**

**Chapter 1**

Carlos 'Ranger' Manoso parked his black SUV in front of the Vincent Plum Bail Bonds office and strode inside with a purpose.

He was new in town, having just been honorably discharged from the Army. Shortly before getting his walking papers, he overheard some of the other guys talking about what they were going to do when they got out of the service. Several of them agreed bounty hunting was the way to go. They were definitely in the right physical shape to take on the job, and the payoff was great for hauling high bond skips back into the system.

Ranger wanted to go into private security, but knew he needed more starting capital. He didn't want to have to borrow a large sum of money to start his company. He decided when he got out, he'd check around to see if there were any openings for bounty hunters in the New Jersey area. Most of his family lived in Newark, so he wanted to stick close to that area and open his first security company there or at least nearby.

He approached the desk of the office manager, Connie Roselli.

"Morning Ranger, how are you?" she greeted him, fanning herself with a manila folder. The man was a hundred degrees hotter than a blast furnace.

"Connie."

She sighed. He was a gorgeous specimen of a man, but he barely said more than two or three words at a time. "Any luck with your first three skips?"

"Yes. I found Adam Golecki yesterday. Here's the body receipt," he said, handing her the piece of paper.

"Great! I'll cut you your first check right now. Congrats," Connie told him with a smile.

"Thanks. I uh ... I'm having a bit of trouble finding the other two. What do other bounty hunters do when the skips no longer seem to be staying at the address we have on file?"

Connie looked up from the check she was writing. "Tracking them down is part of your job. Haven't you ever tracked down a skip before?"

Ranger shook his head.

Connie sighed. "When Vinnie interviewed you for the job, did he ask if you had any experience tracking down FTAs?"

"No. He was a little busy surfing the Hustler website while interviewing me," Ranger answered honestly.

"Christ." Connie finished writing his check, tore it out of the book and handed it to him. Next, she started writing a name and number on a piece of paper. "Alright, look," she said, handing him the note paper. "Call Stephanie Plum. She owes me a favor and she can teach you everything you need to know about tracking down skips. I'll call and let her know you'll be getting in touch with her.

Ranger looked at the piece of paper with Stephanie Plum's number. "She's a bounty hunter?"

"No, she does skip tracing, but not skip chasing. She tried capturing them and bringing them in, but hated it. However, she's damn good at finding them and planning the captures. Not just good, she's the best. Bounty hunters and bond offices all over New Jersey, as well as some in Pennsylvania and New York, use her services. She's so good, sometimes there's a waiting list to see her. Call her as soon as you can so she can fit you in. I'll call her right now and give her your name."

"Thanks Connie. I really appreciate this."

"Yep," she said, picking up her phone to call Stephanie.

Ranger took his check and the paper with Ms. Plum's phone number and strode back out to his SUV. Starting the truck and putting it in gear, he drove around for about ten minutes to give Connie time to complete the call, then pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall and parked. He punched Ms. Plum's number into his cell phone.

"Yo," came the lively voice of a young woman.

"Hello, Ms. Plum, this is Ranger Manoso. Connie from ..."

"Right," she interrupted him. "The new bounty hunter. Listen, call me Steph or Stephanie. None of this Ms. Plum garbage."

"Right. Stephanie."

"I'm booked solid today, but if you want to meet me for breakfast, we can talk now."

"That sounds great if it isn't an imposition," Ranger told her.

"If it were an imposition, I wouldn't have suggested it," she said honestly. "Do you have something to write with?"

Ranger grabbed a pen from the console and turned over the note Connie had given him. "Go ahead."

Stephanie gave him the address of the diner. "I'm sitting in the back and I'm wearing a navy dress with matching heels."

"I'm not completely familiar with Trenton yet, but I think I'm just a block or two from there."

"Good," she said, disconnecting.

Ranger looked at his phone in surprised silence. She hung up on him without waiting to see if he was going to respond and without saying goodbye! He shrugged and clipped his phone back on his belt, figuring she probably had a lot on her mind and didn't realize how much her phone manners sucked.

Less than five minutes later, he walked into the diner and scanned the customers. He spotted Ms. Plum in a back booth with her back to the wall. He hoped she wouldn't get angry when he slid in next to her instead of across from her. He also made it a habit to sit with his back to the wall.

His eyes widened as he got closer. Dios! She was beautiful and sexy as hell. He sent up a silent thank you to Connie for hooking him up with this beautiful woman. Well, not hooking him up, but ... "Ms. Plum," he said, extending his right hand when he reached her booth.

Stephanie looked up and her breathing hitched a bit at the sight of the hunky man holding out his right hand. She dropped the French fry she was about to eat back on her plate and wiped her hands on a paper napkin. "You must be Ranger," she said, shaking his hand. "Have a seat."

She smiled to herself when he slid in next to her and scanned the diner with his delicious brown eyes. At least she wouldn't have to teach him about sitting with his back to the wall and being aware of his surroundings. She guessed to herself he was former military.

She looked up to signal the waitress, but found the woman was already headed their way. Her eyes were fixed firmly on Ranger and she had a swing to her hips that hadn't been there earlier when she came to take Stephanie's order. Steph took another long look at Ranger and figured he probably turned the heads of women everywhere. Connie wasn't lying when she said he was a fifteen on a scale from one to ten.

His skin was flawless and the color of creamy iced coffee. His nose was model straight, his jaw slightly squared and firm, and he had the whitest teeth she'd ever seen. And holy kissable lips!

She studied his profile while he ordered an egg white omelet with onions and green pepper and a cup of coffee. When she saw the corner of his mouth tilt up, she realized he was aware she was staring at him. She quickly turned back to her breakfast and popped a fry into her mouth.

Once the waitress walked away, she caught him staring at her plate. "What?"

"Doesn't look very healthy, Ms. ... I mean Stephanie."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You only live once and I'm not going through life nibbling on carrot sticks," she told him. "Well, I'll do it for a day or two, here and there, if my pants don't want to button and I'm not in the mood to start the Atkins diet, but other than that ... oh, geeze, I'm rambling."

He flashed her a blinding smile. "No problem, you're adorable when you ramble." It was true. She had long brown hair styled into bouncy curls and huge blue eyes that were hard to look away from.

Stephanie narrowed those blue eyes at him. "I don't do adorable."

Ranger tried to hide his grin, but couldn't quite pull it off. "You not only do adorable, you do it quite well, along with beautiful, refreshing and annoyed."

"You're asking for it," Stephanie grumbled, her eyes flashing daggers.

_Not yet I'm not_, thought Ranger, but it sure as hell didn't seem out of the realm of possibility in the near future. "I'm sorry, I meant no offense."

"Fine," she said with a wave of her hand. "Let's get back to the business at hand. Connie said you're having a bit of a problem tracking down your skips. What kind of software are you using?"

Ranger frowned, but before he could reply, he had to lean back a bit while the waitress set his plate of food in front of him and refilled his coffee. He was pretty sure she tried to brush the back of her hand down his chest and abs.

Once she walked away, Ranger turned his attention back to Stephanie. "I don't have any software."

Stephanie's eyes widened and a look of surprise flashed across her face. "You really are brand new at this aren't you? Do you even own a computer?"

Ranger gave her a sheepish look. "Is it bad if I say _no_?"

Stephanie let out a giggle. "It's imperative you have a computer. Can you afford one? The computer and proper software are going to set you back a few thousand dollars. They'll pay for themselves in no time though."

"Yes, I can afford them. I've been saving for several years to start my own private security company. I just need to know what kind of software to buy and I could use your recommendation on the best type of computer."

"Most any name brand computer you find at Best Buy will be fine. As far as the software goes, the programs I use were custom-made. If you follow me back to my office, we can use my programs to run searches on your outstanding skips. Then, if you like the software and what it does, you can call from my office and order copies. How does that sound?"

"It sounds incredibly nice of you," Ranger told her. "Should I bring cash, a check or a credit card?"

"Since you'll be ordering the software over the phone, bring a credit card."

"And what about your fees for my skips?"

"On the house," she said with a bright smile. "I owe Connie a huge favor and this is what she asked of me. I'm happy to do it."

"That hardly seems fair," Ranger said. "The favor is actually for me. At least allow me to buy you dinner."

Stephanie looked him square in the eye. "Thanks, but I don't do relationships."

Ranger gave her his most winning smile. "Then it's a good thing I only asked for dinner."


	2. Chapter 2

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

**What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?**

**O ~ O  
**

_"That hardly seems fair," Ranger said. "The favor is actually for me. At least allow me to buy you dinner."_

_Stephanie looked him square in the eye. "Thanks, but I don't do relationships."_

_Ranger gave her his most winning smile. "Then it's a good thing I only asked for dinner."_

_O ~ O  
_

**Chapter 2**

"You know what I mean," Stephanie countered.

"Do you have plans?" Ranger asked.

"No."

"Do you like eating alone?"

Stephanie was pretty sure she was going to lose this argument, but suddenly she didn't care all that much. "Sometimes. Not really."

"Can't dinner just be dinner?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and let out an exaggerated sigh of defeat. "I suppose it can."

Ranger grinned. "Do I win then? Please?"

"Are you used to convincing women to agree with you?" Steph asked, pulling her keys and money from her purse.

"To tell you the truth, I've never bothered to try before."

Her head jerked up and their eyes locked. They held steady for a moment, then she blinked. Then he blinked. A shiver ran down Steph's spine and Ranger felt a tingling on the back of his neck. They were so close, he could smell her citrus scented shampoo. She felt light-headed in a good way as she breathed in his shower gel and masculine scent.

"Move," she said, gently pushing against his shoulder.

"What?"

"Out of the booth. Let me out so we can get going. You're going to follow me to my office, right?"

"Right," Ranger replied, sliding out of the booth.

Stephanie tossed a twenty on the table.

"Wait," Ranger said, reaching in the pocket of his black cargo pants for his wallet. "You're not buying my breakfast."

"Then you're not buying my dinner," Stephanie said over her shoulder as she headed for the door.

Ranger easily caught up with her. "That's not right."

Stephanie glanced up and gave him a wink. "That's the way the cookie crumbles, Sugar."

Ranger barked out a small laugh as he held the door open for her. Did she just call him Sugar?

Before he could ask her, he heard her whisper, "Oh, holy hell."

"What?" He looked in the direction she was facing and saw a man headed toward them.

"Cupcake," the man said when he reached them. He was looking at Stephanie like she was dessert.

"Morelli," she said coldly.

"You gonna introduce me to your friend," he asked, putting a sarcastic wrap around the word friend.

"Nope." She grabbed Ranger's arm and steered the two of them around Morelli into the parking lot.

"I'll call you," Morelli yelled at their backs.

"Please don't," Stephanie said.

She turned to Ranger. "You driving the black SUV?"

"Yes."

"I'm driving the red Mustang convertible. Follow me," she ordered, releasing his arm.

"Yes, ma'am," Ranger said with a chuckle. Before he could take three steps, a man in a yellow Corvette zipped into the lot and slammed on the brakes next to Stephanie.

Ranger stopped to make sure he wasn't there to cause trouble, but by the look on Stephanie's face and her hands on her hips, he figured she knew the guy and was annoyed rather than frightened.

"What the hell do you want, Dickie?" she ground out.

"We need you to run a search on the beneficiary of a will. We're having trouble locating her."

Stephanie tilted her head to the side. "I told you the last time you talked me into running a search for you that that was going to be the last time."

"I'll triple your fee," Dickie said.

"Ok, fine. Fax the info to my office."

"Sweet," Dickie said, burning rubber as he pulled away.

Ranger walked the few feet back to her and stood in front of her, tucking a strand of soft hair behind her ear. "Everything okay?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes and nodded. "I'm fine. The first guy was my ex boyfriend, Joe Morelli, and the asshole in the yellow 'vette is my ex husband."

Ranger raised an eyebrow. "That's rather interesting for someone who doesn't do relationships," he said, his eyes twinkling.

Stephanie shoved him lightly on his shoulder. "Hello! You just met the two main reasons I no longer do relationships!"

Ranger reached out and wrapped one of her crazy curls around his finger. "Babe, you can't judge every man in the world based on two losers."

Stephanie used her hand to flip her hair over her shoulder and out of his reach. "I can do whatever I want to do, Sweetie." Turning on her heel, she headed to her car.

Yikes, first she'd called him Sugar and now Sweetie. He was going to have to figure out why she didn't see him as a badass. He climbed into his SUV and followed her for almost fifteen minutes until they reached a small one bedroom wood frame house with an attached sunroom and vaulted roof. It was on the outskirts of town and on a nice lot with plenty of room between her house and her closest neighbor. The grass was neatly trimmed and colorful flowers were planted along the front of the house, along the walkway and in small flower beds on either side of the walkway. He grabbed his FTA files from the passenger seat and stepped out of the truck to join her on the sidewalk.

Stephanie saw him looking at the flowers. "Not me," she confessed. "I pay one of the neighbors to cut the grass and tend to the flowers. Not really my thing. He's a teenage boy, but he does a great job and he's saving for college so it works out for both of us."

"They look great," Ranger said, looking over the beautiful array of colors. I don't know a lot about flowers, but the purple ones along the edge of the house are phlox. My mother grows those every year."

"That makes you more of an expert on flowers right off the bat," she told him. "I can't tell you what any of them are."

Ranger raised an eyebrow. "Certainly you know what the purple flowers that edge the flower beds are?"

Stephanie studied them for a moment. "Umm, no. It seems like I should, but I'm afraid I just don't know my flowers."

"Babe, those are common meadow violets, the New Jersey state flower. Proper name is Viola sororia."

"Okay, Mr. Smarty Pants, are you here to check out my flowers or my software?" Stephanie asked, opening the front door with her key.

Ranger smiled and followed her inside. "Your software, but that doesn't mean that we can't discuss things like flowers, moonlight, good wine and where we should go to dinner tonight."

Stephanie kicked off her shoes at the door so Ranger followed suit and removed his boots, then followed her into the living room.

"Very nice!" he said as his eyes swept the room.

"Also not me," she said with a roll of her eyes. "My best friend Mary Lou helped decorate the house. She's good at that kind of thing."

"Love the plump couch cushions and the overstuffed chairs," Ranger told her. "Very warm and cozy looking. The bookshelves are awesome. You read a lot?"

"Yeah, when I have time. I like mysteries and detective stories, mostly. You read?"

"Yes. I enjoy a good detective novel too, but read a lot of biographies, World War I and II stories, Civil War history, rise and fall of empires and governments, things like that."

Stephanie suddenly had a picture flash through her mind of the two of them sitting in the overstuffed chairs in the winter time, in front of the fireplace, sipping wine, and reading in quiet comfort. She shook her head. Where the hell did that come from?

"I'd give you the tour, but there isn't much to see," she said. "Down the hall is a bathroom and a guest bedroom. I sleep up in the loft which has a half bath," she explained, pointing to a set of polished wooden ladder type stairs on the far side of the living room. "The kitchen is this way," she said, heading off to her right. "I turned the sunroom into an office. The view is great through all four seasons."

Ranger followed her through the small kitchen and into the sunroom. There were two desks set up with computers at one end and at the other was a white rattan settee and chair with matching white cushions covered with pink roses and a coffee table with a white rattan base and glass top. The window ledges were covered with potted plants. "I love it," he told her. What a peaceful place to work. I have a question though?"

Stephanie walked over and sat at her desk and motioned for him to take a seat at the other desk. "What's that?"

"If you work from home, is it typical for you to wear a dress and heels and eat breakfast out before starting work?"

Stephanie smiled. "It's typical for me to wear shorts one day, jeans the next and a skirt or dress every once in a while. I get to dress however I want to and today seemed like a dress day. As far as going out to breakfast, I do that a lot. It gets lonely here working by myself. I'm more of a social person than a loner so I need to get out of the house sometimes."

Ranger leaned back in his desk chair and studied her face for a moment. "No fear or hesitation at inviting a strange man you just met to your home?"

"Nope. If there was some reason to be afraid of you, my spidey sense would have warned me."

"Spidey sense?"

"Yes, I have a ... well I don't know what it is, but I always get a weird feeling when something is off or danger is present or if I meet someone I should be wary of for some reason."

Ranger raised an eyebrow. "So, was your Spidey sense not working when you met Dickie and that Morelli guy?"

She glared at him for a moment, but decided to answer anyway. "It was working just fine, thank you very much. Problem was, I didn't always listen to it. Now I do."

"Good to know," Ranger said. "More people should listen to their gut feelings."

Stephanie moved her computer mouse to bring it out of sleep mode and clicked on her favorite software program. "Let's see those files," she said, holding out her hand.

Ranger handed her the files and watched as she looked through the first one. He didn't know what it was about her, but he found her more attractive and more interesting than any woman he'd met in a long time. She was smart and beautiful and wasn't drooling all over him or trying to determine if his bank balance was worth pursuing like a lot of women he met. "Turn on your computer," she said.

Ranger pushed the button and waited for the computer in front of him to boot up.

"I know this first guy," she told him. Kenny Donovan. I picked him up once when I was bringing in skips and already know where you can find him, but I want you to put his name into the program, look over the info and tell me what you think would be helpful."

"Okay," Ranger agreed. "Which program?"

"Click the icon with the eye peering through the magnifying glass."

Ranger clicked on the icon and when the program opened, he typed Kenny Donovan's name, city and state into the search fields.

"It'll take it a few minutes to build a report," Steph told him. "Would you like something to drink while we're waiting? I have coffee, iced tea, bottled water and lemonade."

"Water would be great."

Steph got up from her chair and headed to the kitchen. Ranger watched her as she walked away, mesmerized by the sway of her hips and her long sexy legs. Stephanie looked over her shoulder and caught him staring and he quickly averted his eyes back to the computer screen.

He heard her phone ring and knew she was talking to her mother when he heard her say, "mom ... mom! mother!" trying to get a word in edgewise in the conversation. It was quiet for a few minutes, then he heard her say, "Yeah, I'll be there."

She returned with two bottles of water and handed him one then took her seat at her desk again. "I'm sorry. That was my mother reminding me I promised to have dinner at her house tonight. Can I get a rain check on dinner?"

"Of course," Ranger said graciously, though he was disappointed. "Are you free tomorrow night?"

"Yes, tomorrow night would be fine, thanks. Is your report finished?"

Ranger looked at his screen. "Yes, it says it's finished and there are five pages to print."

"Good. Hit the print button and we'll look over the information."

Ranger printed the report, then gathered the pages off the printer tray and started to read through them. It didn't take long since some of it was information that was already contained in the FTA file. "Okay," he said looking up at Stephanie. "I think I have an idea of where you picked him up."

"Tell me," Stephanie encouraged him.

"Well, if I had a drinking problem and my brother owned a bar, that's probably where you'd find me most of the time."

"Exactly! You see, even though his FTA file listed his home address and the name and address of his brother, it doesn't have the important piece of information about his brother owning a bar."

"This is great," Ranger told her. There's a lot of other information here too. I'm already sold on this software."

"They're not all going to be that easy," Steph told him. "But the idea is the same. You look for places they frequent, people they contact on a regular basis, places they spend money at on a regular basis. Also, you can eliminate places they would want to avoid when they know they're wanted by the law. Things like that. Sometimes you have to put yourself in their shoes and sometimes you just have to read between the lines or think outside the box."

"Connie says you're the best at this."

Stephanie blushed a bit. "I just seem to have a knack for it." Then she laughed. "I'm not sure it's such a compliment that I have a knack for thinking like a fugitive though."

They laughed together and Stephanie was curious about how comfortable she felt around him. She wondered who painted his black t-shirt on for him this morning. It was stretched tight over his bulging muscles. Then she found herself wondering if he had a six pack or an eight pack.

"Steph?"

She brought her eyes from his abs to his face. "What?"

"I was asking if you have a partner?"

"No, it's just me."

"Oh, I was wondering about the second desk and computer."

"It's mostly just a backup computer, but it comes in handy if Vinnie or Connie stop by. Also, I watch my nieces once in a while and they like to play games on it."

"Ah, that explains the Legos icon and the My Little Pony game download." Ranger said with a grin. "I thought maybe this was your downtime computer."

"Very funny."

"Listen, I have an idea. What do you think about renting out this desk and computer?"

"Renting them out? What do you mean?"

"You said you get lonely working here alone. How about if I pay you a monthly rental fee and I just stop by here in the mornings to run my searches. I'm sure I wouldn't be here more than a few hours a week, but it would save me from having to get my own setup and it would give you a little company and some extra money toward your mortgage every month."

Stephanie's head said _no_, her heart said _yes_ and her eyes drifted back to his abs and put in a vote. Looks like the yeses won, two to one. "Sure, why not?"

They worked out a price and then ran a search and picked out some vital information on the second FTA.

When he was ready to leave, Stephanie walked him to the door and watched as he put on his boots.

Once he straightened up, he gave her a bone melting smile. "If I have new searches in the morning, I'll see you then. If not, I'll pick you up for dinner at 6:00, if that works for you."

"Sounds great. What should I wear?"

"You like steak and seafood?"

"Yes to both."

"Dress for Randy's Waterfront Inn," he told her.

"Oh, that place is new and I've been wanting to try it." She opened the front door for him.

"I ate there last week," Ranger told her. "I think you'll like it." He tugged on one of her curls, gave her a wink and walked out the door.

Stephanie closed the door and then turned and leaned against it. Holy hot tamales, what was she getting herself into?

**A/N - Thank you all so much for the tremendous feedback for chapter one. I've been working my way through replying to them, but I'm only part way through. I'll try to get to them all, but know that I read and appreciate each and every one.**

**Kristine**


	3. Chapter 3

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

**What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?**

**R/S/R/S**

**Chapter 3**

Stephanie spent the remainder of the day running searches for clients and faxing the needed information back to them. She carefully tagged the most useful information, made notes in the margins and wrote a summary page with her suggestions for finding and bringing in each skip. She had a full day and it should have kept her mind occupied, but every few minutes, the image of a tall, dark, brown-eyed man with a killer smile, meandered through her mind causing her to smile and sigh at once. He was almost enough to make her forget she'd given up on men and relationships.

At 5:00 p.m., she turned off her computer, straightened her desk and headed to the bathroom to shower and get ready for dinner at her parents' house.

Arriving promptly at 6:00 p.m., she became agitated when she saw Joe Morelli's truck parked at the curb. What the hell? If this was her mother's idea, there was going to be a showdown at the Plum residence tonight.

Grandma Mazur met her at the front door, but her mother was noticeably absent. After she greeted her grandma and stepped inside, she could hear the muffled sounds of a conversation taking place in the kitchen between Joe and her mom. _Great, _she thought. Despite her protests and requests for them to stop, the two of them were apparently going to continue to conspire to push her back into Joe's life. Not gonna happen.

She marched to the kitchen doorway and leaned against the door frame, crossing her arms over her chest. Joe, kiss-up, scumbag, brown-noser extraordinaire, had his arm slung over Helen's shoulder while she was, _get ready for it_, hand feeding him bites of homemade peanut butter cookies, while he sang her culinary praises. Barf bag needed in the kitchen/dining area, extra-large, with a hazardous waste symbol, please.

"What's going on?" Stephanie asked to their backs.

Joe kept his arm around Helen as the two of them pirouetted to face her, but dropped it when he saw the look on Steph's face.

"Cupcake."

"Stephanie."

"What are you doing here, Joe?"

"I was invited, Cupcake. Your mother was kind enough to set an extra place at the table for me, right next to you," he finished with a smirk.

Stephanie looked from one to the other and back again. "Joe, I've told you for the last time, I'm not interested in seeing you. We're done. Finished. Over and out."

She turned to her mother. "You and I had a long talk and you agreed to drop this whole matchmaking thing. You not only refuse to take my feelings seriously, you can't be trusted to keep your word. I'm leaving and won't be back for another dinner until you apologize. And, if you apologize and then pull this kind of stunt again, you and I will no longer be on speaking terms."

Steph turned and headed for the front door, passing a grinning Grandma Mazur.

"Stephanie Michelle Plum, you get back here right this minute," Helen snarked out as she followed Steph to the door. "You will not speak to me that way in my own home."

Stephanie turned back to face her mother. "Excuse me? Are you suggesting I should show you some respect when you refuse to grant me the same consideration? I admit, it's partly my fault for letting you meddle in my life for so long once I became an adult, but those days are over. I have a good job, make a lot of money, own my own home and call my own shots, mother. If and when I decide to start dating again, I'll be the one who chooses the guy, not you. And, you can bet your Sunday best pot roast, it won't be Joe. Those are my final words on the subject."

Stephanie turned and hurried out the door, the sound of her mother's protests assaulting her ears until she slid behind the steering wheel of her Mustang and slammed the door. She dug her keys from her purse, started the car and pulled away from the curb with a smile. A year ago, the thought of speaking to her mother that way would have had her breaking out in hives. Not any more.

Breaking up with Joe, starting her own business, and becoming successful at her chosen profession had served to bolster her self-confidence. She no longer allowed her mother, Vinnie or the 'Burg gossip freaks to bully her or try to dictate what she should be doing with her life. It took a while, and she'd shed more than a few tears of frustration, but it had been worth it.

Sure, she got a little lonely sometimes, but she was happy with her life and her little house. She was even thinking of getting a new hamster. She missed Rex a lot since he passed away almost a year ago. This weekend, she'd go hamster shopping, she decided.

Next, she phoned Pino's and ordered a meatball sub and side salad to pick up on her way home. That was another thing she'd changed. She used to avoid things like salads, but now, when she ordered something like a sub, she also made sure to eat some leafy green vegetables along with it. She didn't need anyone to tell her what to do. Maybe it took her longer than most women to take control of her life and start to make healthy choices, but she'd done it, and she wasn't about to start a backwards slide by letting Joe back into her life.

r/s/r/s

Around 8:30 that night, there was a knock at her door. Pausing her game, she went to look through the peephole to see who was there. She wasn't expecting anyone, but sometimes Connie stopped by on her way home from the mall to show off her purchases.

She was surprised when she saw Ranger through the peephole. When she opened the door, he had a big smile on his face and a bottle of champagne in his hand.

"Ranger," what are you doing here?"

"I took a chance you'd be home from your parents' house by now," he told her. He held out the bottle of champagne and she automatically took it and stepped aside for him to enter.

"What are we celebrating?"

Ranger toed off his boots, then reached in his pocket and pulled out two FTA receipts. "Thanks to you, Babe, it was a $7,500 payday for me."

"Wow, you got both of them today? Nicely done." She turned toward the living room and he followed her. "Make yourself at home while I get some glasses for the champagne."

Ranger glanced at the blurry screen on the TV from her paused game. "Babe, what are you doing here?"

Stephanie grinned over her shoulder. "I'm killing zombies."

"No! Are you playing Black Ops?"

"Yes, do you play?"

"Oh, hell yeah. All the guys I knew in the Army played."

"Well join me then," she said with a smile. Do you know how to set up the split screen? I've never done it."

"Sure do, no problem," Ranger said, settling down on the floor with his back against the couch. This was great. Not only was she beautiful, smart and sexy, she was a Call of Duty fan. He felt his pants tighten at the thought. One part of his mind was wondering what she would look like in a sexy little bra and thong set from Victoria's Secret while another part of his mind wanted to see her tricked out in a utility belt and Kevlar vest. He knew she'd be smoking hot either way.

Stephanie came back and set two flutes of champagne on the coffee table, then went and got the bottle and put it on the table next to the glasses. That's when Ranger noticed the wrapper from the Pino's sub.

Momentarily glancing at her while multi-tasking with the game controller, he said, "Your mom served subs for dinner tonight?"

Stephanie let out a huff. "Dinner never happened at my mom's. She explained to him what happened.

He'd set the controller aside while listening to her story. When she was done, he picked up the champagne flutes, handed one to her and held his out for a toast. "Proud of you, Babe."

"Proud of me? You don't even really know me."

"Steph, you just told me that at one time, you had a hard time standing up to your mother and other people. Now you've grown a spine and you've taken control of your life. You no longer let her control you or butt into your life when it doesn't concern her. Yes, I'm proud of you."

A smile slowly spread across Stephanie's face as she realized he'd actually listened to every word she'd said and was truly proud of her. She clinked her glass to his and thanked him before taking a sip. "Mmm, this is wonderful."

"I was hoping you'd like it. After all, you're the reason I was able to corral both those skips in such a short period of time. I can't thank you enough. I have quite a bit of money in the bank that I've been saving to start my own business, but wanted to add to it as quickly as possible. With paydays like today, it should happen pretty quickly."

After drinking a bit more of his champagne, he set his glass back on the coffee table, hooked a second controller to the PS3 and set up the split screen mode.

They spent the next hour laughing, talking and squealing, well mostly Steph squealed, while killing zombies. Every time Ranger yelled at her, "Look out! look out! look out! Window on your left!" she'd squeal and break out in laughter. This was the most fun she'd ever had playing this game.

"Babe, what's with using the AK-47? It's just a few zombies."

Stephanie was sitting right next to him on the floor, their backs against the couch. She elbowed him in the side. "Just a few zombies? My god, they keep coming and coming. What's with you, showing off and shooting them with a pistol, Mr. Big Shot?"

"Babe, I can shoot anything equipped with a trigger."

Stephanie set her controller on the table. "Just that good, eh?"

Ranger gave her a wolf grin. "At some things more than others, Babe."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm ready for a snack. Want some popcorn?"

"Sure. Popcorn sounds good." He got up and followed her into the kitchen.

While waiting for the corn to pop in the microwave, Ranger glanced around. Through the doorway to the laundry room, he could see an aquarium on a folding table. It contained a small bowl, an empty water bottle and a wheel, but no animal. "What happened to your pet?"

"Hmm?" Stephanie followed his eyes to Rex's old home. "Oh, I had a hamster named Rex for a long time. He died several moths ago," she told him, unable to keep the sadness from her voice.

Ranger wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry about Rex," he said, kissing the top of her head.

Stephanie felt the sudden urge to melt against him to soak up his warmth and comfort and breathe in his heavenly scent. Then she remembered that would a bad idea and jumped when the microwave dinged. She ducked under his arm, retrieved the popcorn and dumped it into a bowl.

Without looking at him, she said, "Okay, ready," and headed back to the living room.

They settled back in their same spots on the floor and chatted about chasing skips as they munched on the popcorn. Stephanie laughed when Ranger tossed a popped kernel into the air and caught it in his mouth.

"I can never do that," she complained. "I can catch maybe one in twenty and the rest end up on the floor."

Show me your technique," Ranger said. Stephanie selected a piece of popcorn, tossed it in the air, tilted her head back and let out a groan of displeasure when it came down and bounced off her chin. "See? That's what happens most of the time. Or, I miss my face altogether."

"Let me try," Ranger said, selecting a kernel. "Tip your head back and open your mouth."

Stephanie did as instructed. Ranger glanced at her open mouth, then tossed the popcorn up and it came down, disappearing into her mouth. "Holy cow, how did you do that?"

"Just takes practice, Babe. "I have a good aim. Watch this," he said. "Let's see if I can show off a little for you." He moved the bowl of popcorn out of the way and lay down flat on his back. He opened his mouth, tossed a piece of popcorn into the air and caught it in his mouth when it came down.

"Impressive," Stephanie said. "Lying down, you have even less head movement. For now, I'll have to name you the reigning king, but I'm going to be practicing, so watch out in the future.

"Ranger smiled and held her gaze. He silently hoped that her future included a rescinding of her no relationship rule.

Stephanie looked down at the man on her living room floor. His handsome face looked relaxed and happy and his brown eyes soft and alluring. Slowly, she found herself leaning down until her lips touched his. The kiss was soft and slow at first, then she felt his arms go around her, one around her waist and the other around her back. When she felt his tongue seek entrance to her mouth, she realized what she was doing and scrambled off him then jumped to her feet.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, stepping a couple of feet away from him, wringing her hands.

Ranger pushed himself into a sitting position. "Steph," he said softly. "I wouldn't want you to do something you don't want to do, but I hope you're not really sorry. I'm not."

Stephanie pulled her lower lip between her teeth and tried to get her thoughts in order. "I ... well, I ..." She blew out a frustrated breath. "But I ... "

Ranger grinned. "Babe, I think the words you're looking for are that you don't do relationships."

"Right!" she agreed. "That's exactly right."

"Steph, I hope this topic comes up for a new vote every once in a while in that great boardroom in your mind. You're way too young to swear off relationships for good. Of course, you need to do what feels right to you, but remember that changing your mind is also an option because you're the one who gets to make the choices and rules."

Ranger got to his feet. "You okay?" he asked when she remained silent for a few moments.

"Yeah. It's just ... well, relationships don't work out very well for me."

"No matter how hard you try, a relationship will never work out with the wrong person. Relationships aren't bad, but they're pretty difficult when the couple is a mismatch."

Stephanie nodded, thinking over what he said.

Ranger picked up the popcorn bowl and champagne flutes and carried them to the kitchen. "I should be going," he said when he came back into the living room.

Stephanie followed him to the door and waited while he put on his boots. When he was finished, he reached out and tugged on one of her curls. "Sweet dreams, Babe."

"You too. I guess I'll see you in the morning if Connie has new skips for you."

"I'll be here," he promised as he opened the door and let himself out.

**A/N - Thanks so much to everyone following my story and to those of you who have taken the time to leave feedback. It's so nice to read your comments and find out what you think and read your guesses about where the story is headed**.


	4. Chapter 4

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

**Chapter 4**

Ranger was up at his usual time of 5 a.m. the next morning and the first thing that entered his mind when he woke up was Stephanie Plum. He'd had a great time playing Black Ops with her the night before and a big smile split his face when he remembered her kiss.

He chuckled at how shocked she was over her actions. Apparently she wasn't used making the first move. Then again, maybe she was just shocked because she had herself convinced she didn't do relationships.

He'd felt the same way for a long time. For years he had himself convinced that because of the Special Ops missions he went on as an Army Ranger, it wasn't a good idea to fall in love and leave a woman at home to worry about whether or not he was going to return to her.

Then one time, a couple of years ago, he came home on leave and when he stepped off the plane, he looked around. Really looked this time as his fellow soldiers ran from the plane into the arms of their wives, girlfriends and in some cases, husbands and boyfriends. He read the relief on their faces, both the soldiers and their loved ones, and he realized they all had the same fears he had, but instead of shying away from relationships, each of them had found someone who understood. Someone who was brave enough to love in spite of their fears. Someone worth staying strong for, praying for, believing in, waiting for or returning home to.

After that, he decided he would keep an open mind and if someone came along and snagged his heart, he was not going to fight it. Two years passed and he wasn't any closer to finding the right woman than he was that day at the air base.

Now, a beautiful curly-haired skip tracer was making his heart beat faster and making it hard for him to keep a smile off his face. He knew her stand against relationships was just her way of protecting her heart from getting broken again. He couldn't imagine how stupid the two men he'd seen speaking to her the day before could possibly be to have had her and then screwed up and lost her. He wondered if someday she'd tell him the details.

After his five-mile run, he showered and dressed in clean black cargo pants and a black t-shirt. He checked his guns, strapped on his utility belt and grabbed his Kevlar vest from the closet.

His first stop was the bonds office. "Morning, Connie," he greeted her with a smile.

Connie looked up in surprise. "Hey, Ranger. You're looking pretty chipper this morning. What's up with that?"

Ranger handed her the two body receipts from the day before. "Got 'em both," he said proudly.

"Wow! You certainly did. Nice payday. Hang on and I'll write you a check." She pulled out the checkbook. "Did you get a chance to meet up with Stephanie yesterday?"

"Sure did. She's the reason I was able to get these two so quickly. You were right about her, she's the best."

Connie stole a quick glance at his face as she wrote out the check. She had a feeling his big smile had more to do with Stephanie than the two skips he captured. "Here you go," she said, handing him the check. Oh, and I have two new skips for you. One of them is a real creep. He can get very violent so be sure to get Stephanie's advice before you go after him."

Ranger wasn't afraid of a violent skip, but he certainly intended to get Steph's input. He took the check and files and waved goodbye to Connie on his way out the door.

He went through the drive-thu window at his bank and deposited the check, then pulled into a parking space to look through the files Connie gave him.

One was Doug Griffin who was wanted for a hit and run involving a police officer. It wasn't his first arrest and probably because an officer was hurt in the accident, the bond was jacked up to $25,000.

The other was Pete Saffron. He had been charged with robbing a convenience store, using a gun in the commission of a felony, resisting arrest and driving a stolen vehicle in the commission of a felony. It was his third arrest in the past four years. The bond was set at $50,000. It was shaping up to be another good payday.

The file for Doug Griffin said he worked at a local flea market, operating a booth selling bumper stickers, decals, posters, black lights, strobe lights and other miscellaneous items.

Ranger knew right where the flea market was. He'd been there twice already, looking at gun racks and gun paraphernalia. He decided to see if he could locate Doug before heading to Stephanie's house.

As he strolled through the flea market looking for Doug's booth, he saw a vendor selling cups, mugs, steins, picture frames and a vast array of other items that could be personalized. He stopped when he saw a blue coffee mug the same color as Stephanie's eyes.

"I'll take the blue mug," he told the vendor.

"Sure thing, buddy. Would you like a name on it? It's included in the price."

"Yeah, that would be good," Ranger told him. He gave the man the name he wanted on the cup and waited while the man stuck the mug in a machine, set up something that looked like a set of stencils and used a spray nozzle connected to a very small hose and a can of white paint to paint the name vertically on each side of the mug.

He held a heating element close to the painted letters for a few minutes, then held the mug up for Ranger's inspection. "Perfect," Ranger told him. "I thought this kind of work was computerized these days."

The man put the mug in a white box with an instruction sheet for its care. "It can be, but I am an artist," he said, pronouncing it arteest. "I paint all the names by hand. Well, with the use of my handy spray nozzle," he amended. Finally, he put the box in a plastic bag, handed it to Ranger, collected the money, and thanked him for his business.

Ranger continued to wander through the flea market and eventually found Doug's booth, but it was unattended. He was probably lying low, knowing he missed his court date. He decided to head over to Stephanie's house.

On his way, he stopped at Dunkin' Donuts and bought two blueberry muffins. When he pulled into Stephanie's driveway, he was disappointed to see that her car was not there. He wondered if she'd pulled it in to the garage after he left last night or if she was out to breakfast. He thought about heading over to the diner where he first met her, but before he could make up his mind, she appeared at the front door, motioning him to come inside.

He smiled in relief as he shut off the engine and grabbed his files and the bags with the muffins and the coffee mug. "Good morning," he greeted her cheerfully as he stepped inside.

"Good morning to you too," she said, returning his smile. "What do you have there? Do I smell blueberry muffins?" She turned and headed toward the kitchen.

"Yep. Good detective work. Your nose is working perfectly."

Stephanie grinned. "Not much gets past me when it comes to food," she confessed. "Coffee?"

"Yes, please." He placed the bags and files on the table, took a seat and set out the muffins. He gazed at her profile while she poured him a cup of coffee and refilled her own cup. She was wearing a pair of cut-off jeans and a tucked in Metallica t-shirt. Her long slender legs were lightly tanned the same hue as her arms, and her feet were bare. Her toenails were painted a pale rose color and her hair was in a pony tail. She looked adorable.

"You take yours black, right?" She remembered he didn't add anything to his coffee at the diner.

"Yes, thanks.

She placed the cup in front of him then added sugar and creamer to her cup and slid into the chair adjacent to him. She took a bite of her muffin and moaned in appreciation. "This is wonderful, thank you."

"You can have half of mine too," Ranger told her. "Sugar overdose for me if I eat the whole thing."

"I won't argue with you over that. Anything I can do to promote your good health," she said with a cheeky grin.

"You'd sacrifice your own health for mine?" he teased.

"When it comes to food, yes. And, I'm nosy enough to want to know what's in the other bag even though my nose doesn't detect anything edible."

Ranger picked up the bag and placed it in front of her. "Just a little something I picked up for you at the flea market this morning."

"You've already been to the flea market? Doug Griffin must be FTA again."

She opened the bag, pulled out the box and took off the lid. She pulled out the blue mug that said BABE down each side in white letters. What was with him calling her Babe? "Thanks, Sugar," she said, smiling sweetly at him. "It's very pretty. What did I do to deserve this?"

"It matches your eyes," he told her. "But, you've got to stop calling me Sugar and Sweetie. I'm trying to build a badass reputation in this town," he said with a grin. "And you're not helping."

Stephanie studied his face for a moment. "You don't look like a badass."

"What? Of course I do. Plenty of people back off when they see me coming. Babe, please tell me you're just kidding."

She sipped some coffee from her cup and made him wait for her reply. Finally, she said, "Nah, I just don't see it. Maybe if I were FTA or had never met you, I'd think you were a badass, but I've seen you smile, laugh, play video games and catch popcorn in your mouth. Not a badass."

"Babe," Ranger said with a defeated sigh.

"Okay, well I did see a blank look on your face when we ran into Morelli and Dickie. That face was a little intimidating because I couldn't tell what you were thinking. I think Morelli was a little intimidated too since he let me walk away without causing any problems."

"Well, at least that's something. Everyone in the Rangers can pull off the blank face look."

"Is that so the enemy can't get useful information from you?"

"No, it's so we can win at poker during our downtime."

Stephanie let out a small laugh. "Are you pulling my leg?"

Ranger leaned back and glanced at her sexy legs under the table. "Not yet I'm not. But don't think it hasn't crossed my mind." He gave her a sexy smile and chuckled when her face turned a light shade of pink.

She decided to change the subject. "So, any luck picking up Doug at the flea market?"

"No, his booth was unattended."

Stephanie nodded. "He usually avoids it when he's FTA. You'll probably find him at his sister's house. Her address should be in the file. Who else do you need to pick up?" she asked, noticing he had two files on the table.

Ranger handed her the second file. "Not a nice guy."

She flipped open the file and grimaced when she saw the photo of Pete Saffron. Reading through the page with the charges against him, she said, "You'll need backup for this one. You'll find him down on Stark Street, but that isn't a place you want to go alone to pick up a scumbag like this. You have someone to use as a partner?"

"No. I'll just have to plan it well and make sure I don't take any unnecessary chances."

"Absolutely not," Steph said shaking her head. "Never, ever head to Stark Street to pick up a violent fugitive on your own. I'll go with you."

Ranger was taking a sip of his coffee and almost choked on it. "Not a chance."

"Bull pucky," she said. "It's been a while since I've brought in a skip, but it isn't like I've forgotten how." She stood up and headed out of the room. "I'll be right back."

Five minutes later, she came back into the kitchen wearing jeans with her t-shirt, a utility belt and a flack jacket. Ranger had to stifle a moan. Just as he suspected, she looked hot. Sexy as hell. "Babe, I'm not taking you down to Stark Street with me."

"Give it up, Sweetie, because if you don't take me with you, I'll just follow you. Then we'll have two vehicles in a bad part of town instead of one _and _it'll be harder to communicate." She took the lid off her cookie jar and pulled out a .38.

Ranger sighed. "Why do you need the .38 when you have a Glock in your belt?"

Steph added the .38 to the collection of weapons on her belt. Cuffs, pepper spray, stun gun, Glock, .38 Special. "I'm hoping not to have to use either," she told him. "I'd rather use the .38 than the Glock, but would never head down to Stark Street without both."

Ranger stood from the table and stepped close to her. She looked up and their eyes met. "Stephanie, look, I can't do this. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you. You have to stay here and let me handle this."

She gave a slight shrug. "And I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you because I let you go down there by yourself. Plus, if you think you're going to tell me what I'm allowed or not allowed to do, our friendship isn't going to last very long. I'll be passing you in the diner parking lot wishing I didn't know you, the way I do Morelli and the Dick."

Ouch! That caused Ranger to take a step back and blink. Holy hell, she was blackmailing him with their future friendship. He'd rather see her safe and not be friends with her than have something happen to her. But, she was right about one thing. He didn't have the right to tell her what she could and couldn't do. "Alright, but on the way down there, we're going to discuss a plan and a backup plan."

"Fine," Stephanie agreed. "I'm all for having a couple of good plans considering the last time I went after him, he shot me."

Christ! Ranger turned and grabbed the edge of the table thinking he might pass out. "Babe, I wasn't going to say anything since we just met, but ... I think I'm falling in love with you and you're killing me here."

Stephanie turned and grabbed the edge of the table thinking she might faint. This man had plans to blow her whole no relationship status to smithereens and some traitorous part of her didn't want to stop him.

**A/N – Thank you once again for the wonderful feedback. I'm delighted that so many of you are enjoying the story. Hope you like this chapter too.****  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

_Christ! Ranger turned and grabbed the edge of the table thinking he might pass out. "Babe, I wasn't going to say anything since we just met, but ... I think I'm falling in love with you and you're killing me here."_

_Stephanie turned and grabbed the edge of the table thinking she might faint. This man had plans to blow her whole no relationship status to smithereens and some traitorous part of her didn't want to stop him._

Chapter 5

Neither of them moved or even breathed for several seconds. Finally, Stephanie released her hold on the table and stepped back a bit. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," she told him with a squeaky voice.

"Why would you do that? I'm the one who should pretend I didn't say it."

Stephanie's eyebrows shot up as far as they could go. "Oh, so you didn't mean it? Isn't that just freaking typical of a guy."

Ranger squeezed his eyes shut for a moment trying to figure out how to come out of this with Stephanie still speaking to him. "Babe, it's not that I didn't mean it, I did. It's just too soon and I know that. Plus, you've already made it clear you're afraid of relationships."

Stephanie narrowed her eyes at him. "Afraid? Afraid? I never said I was afraid of them, I just said I don't do them. There's a difference. And speaking of being afraid, who's still hanging on to the table for dear life? Not me, Mister." She choked out a laugh. "The big badass bounty hunter is the one hanging on for dear life."

Ranger glanced down at his white knuckles and told his brain to send a signal to his hands telling them they could let go now. He took a deep cleansing breath and released the edge of the table. He looked at Stephanie standing there with her hands on her hips. He stepped closer so that he was only a few inches from her and put his own hands on his hips. "I freaked out when you said he shot you. I don't want you to put yourself in that position again. Why don't we flip a coin?"

"Flip a coin to see if I'm going with you? No. But, maybe you're right. I'll call Vinnie and send him with you."

"Vinnie? You're kidding, right?"

Stephanie shook her head. "No, I'm not kidding. Vinnie has brought in his share of skips over the years. He knows how to use a gun too."

Ranger blew out a loud sigh. "Let's sit down for a minute and talk about this." He pulled out his chair and sat and watched Steph do the same.

"Okay, Babe, how come one minute you were determined to go with me, now you want to send Vinnie with me?"

"Because I'm reasonably sure you're not falling in love with Vinnie. I think you and I should probably not hang out together more than we have to."

Ranger leaned forward and banged his head on the table a few times. "Steph, can you just forget I said that?"

"Not likely."

Ranger drummed his fingers on the table. "Okay, can you tell me why you don't do relationships?"

"I already told you. They never work out for me."

"You mentioned two that didn't work out. Are there more?" Ranger asked.

"No, but those two were enough. You're so interested in knowing more about this subject? I'll tell you. Whatever it takes for a woman to hang onto a man, I don't have it. They both cheated on me and I won't put myself through that again."

Ranger's eyes got so big, Stephanie thought they were going to pop out of his head. "No reply for that one, eh?" she asked, unable to keep the sarcasm from her voice.

Ranger shook his head and looked at her sadly. "I'd have plenty to say if I could figure out how this beautiful, smart, savvy, successful business woman in front of me could possibly blame herself because two stupendous idiots couldn't keep their dick in their pants and lost the best thing that probably ever happened to either of them."

There was a long pause while Stephanie studied his face to try to determine whether or not he really meant what he said. "You really think I'm all those things?" she asked softly.

"I wouldn't have said them if I didn't mean them, Babe."

Stephanie slapped her hand on the table. "Okay, then, let's strap on our big kid pants and go catch ourselves a skip."

"You're not still upset about ... the other thing I said?" Ranger asked cautiously.

"Stephanie scooted her chair back and stood. "I told you, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

Ranger sighed. First she said she was going to pretend he didn't say it, then she said it wasn't likely she'd forget, now she was back to pretending he didn't say it. How did that work when they both knew he said it? At least she was still speaking to him, but now he was back to taking her down to Stark Street to face a man who once shot her.

She walked over to the counter and reached in the cookie jar, then came over and handed him a key. "This is for my front door. I may not be here sometimes when you come over in the morning. Just let yourself in and you can do the searches on your skips."

"Thanks, Babe." He took out his keychain and added her house key. He guessed she couldn't hate him too much if she was giving him a key to her house.

Next, she opened her purse and took some tens and twenties from her wallet and stuffed them into the front right pocket of her jeans. When he raised an eyebrow at that, she explained. "I don't want to take my purse with me, but we'll need money to pay for information. We'll start with the hookers on Shaw Street. The hookers always know at least a little something."

Ranger pulled his wallet out of one of the many pockets on his cargo pants and took out some tens and twenties. He tucked them into a separate pocket then returned his wallet to its original pocket. "My skip, so we'll use my money first," he said.

"Whatever. We can always work that out later."

Ranger gave a nod. "What's the plan if the hookers can't help pin him down?"

Stephanie shrugged. "We just keep asking around. If we get desperate, there's a psychic off Stark Street named Stella. I've heard she's really good."

Ranger didn't miss the amusement in her eyes when she talked about the psychic. His Babe was an interesting woman. Telling him she doesn't do relationships one moment and kissing him the next. All jacked out of shaped one moment and teasing him the next. "Have you ever been to a psychic, Steph?"

"Sure. My best friend, Mary Lou, and I went to one at a carnival one year, and a few years ago, we actually drove down to the hood and consulted with Stella."

"And?"

"And what?" she asked innocently.

"And so you have first hand knowledge of whether or not Stella is accurate."

"You're taking this seriously, aren't you? Do you believe in psychics, Ranger Danger?"

Crap, she had a new name for him, but maybe Ranger Danger was better that Sweetie and Sugar, though it sounded sort of like an action figure. He leaned back in his chair and gave her his blank face look which caused her to start giggling. Not the reaction he was going for. "I got some very accurate information from a psychic one time on a mission," he told her. "However, I was never able to determine if the woman had psychic abilities or if she just knew the information beforehand."

Stephanie nodded and still had a grin on her face from giggling. "Did you show her your blank face? I'm thinking even a psychic can't read that thing."

Ranger struggled to not smile, but couldn't quite pull it off and his blank face disappeared. "You ready to go, Babe?"

Stephanie stood and adjusted her clothing and belt. "Ready as I'll ever be. And, just so you know, Stella warned me not to marry Dickie. She said he was a asshole and couldn't be trusted."

Ranger followed her as they headed for the front door. "So, you didn't listen to your gut and you didn't listen to Stella."

"What can I say," she replied with a huff. "Some of us are slow learners."

They took Ranger's SUV and on the way to the hood, they discussed take down methods, use of force, and signals they could use if either of them were in trouble and needed help. Stephanie picked _Rex _as their alert word causing Ranger to give her a warm smile. She must have loved that hamster a lot. Maybe he should buy her a new one, but first he needed to find out if she wanted a new one.

When they reached Stark Street, Stephanie directed him to the corner of Stark and Shaw where she was familiar with some of the hookers. She hadn't been down here in over a year so she wasn't sure she'd see anyone she knew.

She motioned for Ranger to pull over as they neared two women who looked familiar. Sure enough, when he rolled to a stop and she hit the button to lower her window, one of the women hurried toward truck yelling, "Stephanie! Where the hell you been, girl?"

Lula was a large black woman who had been working Stark Street as a hooker for at least six years that Stephanie knew of. She was currently wearing her hair in a pink afro. Her outfit consisted of leopard print spandex shorts and a pink and gold print spandex halter top, both two sizes too small. To complete the outfit, she was wearing hot pink and lime green flip-flops and had a pink feather boa tied around her ample waist. Stephanie smiled to herself when Ranger's eyebrows shot up his forehead at the sight of her.

"Hey, Lula." Stephanie greeted her with a big smile. She'd always liked Lula and the woman always seemed to know the latest happenings in the hood. "How have you been?" Stephanie asked her when she leaned against the frame of the open window.

"Mmm, mm, mm," Lula said, her gaze fixed on Ranger. "Girl, you sure never had a problem findin' yerself a good looking man. This has got ta be the hottest one yet," she declared.

Stephanie glanced over at Ranger to find him actually blushing. She barked out a laugh and turned back to Lula. "He's not mine, Lula. He's a bounty hunter and I'm showing him the ropes a bit."

Lula put her hands on her ample hips. "Well don't be showin' him how ta blow up his cars 'cause this one is a lot nicer than those buckets of rust you used ta drive."

Stephanie laughed and looked over at Ranger again. "Did you get that? No blowing up cars. Even if it isn't your fault," she added.

Ranger had no idea what they were talking about, but laughed along with them and nodded his head. "Got it," he agreed. He leaned toward Stephanie. "Ask her about Pete," he said, trying to get her to hurry things along.

Stephanie had to lean back as Lula leaned in the window. "Did you say you was looking for Pete and by Pete do you mean Pete Saffron 'cause that motherfucker has been stirring up shit down here da past three nights in a row."

"Is that so?" Steph asked with interest. "You don't happen to know where he's been staying, do you?"

"Nope," Lula said, shaking her head and causing her afro to shake in time with her head. "He use-ley spends most of the night in the old concrete warehouse where all them assholes go ta shoot up an smoke dope, but he seem diff'rent this time. He actin' all like a big shot and hangin' out wit two new guys not from around here. They been struttin' round actin' like they own the place, but as soon as a cop car come through here, they disappear faster than a dollar bill at a gas pump."

Stephanie reached into her pocket and pulled out a twenty, handing it to her. "Thanks, Lula. Don't get yourself in any trouble, but keep your ears open for news about Pete. If we don't find him today, I may check back with you in a day or so."

"You got it, White Girl, but if you want info about Pete, you should be asking Stella. You know who I mean?"

Stephanie shot her a look of surprise. "You mean Stella the psychic?"

"Mmm hmm. Word down here is, Pete was arm wrestlin' with Stella's nephew and broke the kid's arm. Then, when the kid was holdin' his arm in pain, Pete reached in his back pocket and lifted his wallet. Stella said she was gonna do a readin' with her cards and track his sorry ass down."

_Holy shit_, thought Stephanie. _What the hell was she thinking? _Stella was no match for Pete Saffron. She reached in her pocket and pulled out another twenty, handing it to Lula. "Thanks again and take care of yourself, Lula."

"You too, girl," Lula said with a smile as she backed away from the truck and stuffed the two twenty dollar bills inside her halter top. She then looked up and pierced Ranger with her soulful dark eyes. "Take care of my girl," she instructed him.

Ranger smiled and gave her a quick salute even though he knew Stephanie would object to being called his girl and object to the fact that she needed to be taken care of by him or anyone else.

As he pulled away from the curb, he waited for her rant to start, but nothing happened. He cut his eyes over to her, but she appeared deep in thought. "Babe?"

She turned in her seat to face him a bit. "Yes, Ranger Danger?"

Ranger sighed. "Babe."

"You ready?" she asked.

"Ready for what?" Ranger asked warily.

"Ready to visit Stella to see if she knows where Pete is. Maybe she'll even throw in your loooove horoscope," she teased.

"And maybe she'll throw in yours," Ranger returned with a smirk. "How do we get there, Babe?"

**A/N - Hope you like the update. I had a ridiculously frustrating day at work today and just got this chapter finished. It hasn't been proofread so I apologize in advance for any glaring errors. **  
**Thank you all once again for the wonderful feedback. You ladies make my day/week/month.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

Chapter 6

Stephanie gave Ranger the directions to the home of Stella, the psychic. It was about five blocks away, in an area that was a little bit safer than the corner of Stark and Shaw, but still considered part of the hood.

Stella was in her late fifties with salt and pepper hair worn in a loose bun, high on her head. Her office was an enclosed sunroom where she'd set up a card table with chairs. Next to the card table was a TV tray on a metal stand, holding several decks of cards, including regular playing cards, tarot cards and cards with astrological signs on the back that Stephanie didn't recognize.

She told Ranger and Stephanie to take a seat, then sat down in front of a deck of tarot cards that were already dealt out in the shape of a T. "I've been expecting the two of you," she told them. "I cleared my schedule and have done six different layouts and readings this morning."

Ranger and Stephanie exchanged a quick glance then turned their eyes back to Stella. Ranger cleared his throat. "I know you've met Stephanie once in the past, but how can you be expecting someone you've never met?"

Stella gave him a hearty laugh. "Ranger, please. We've met more times than I can count. Once you evolve to the point where you allow your conscious mind to meld with your memories, you'll remember everything."

Ranger felt a chill travel down his spine. How did this woman know his name and why did he not remember meeting her in the past? "Explain," he said. His voice was soft, but it was a command nonetheless.

Stella looked from Ranger to Stephanie and back again. "When did the two of you meet?" she asked.

"Yesterday morning," Ranger told her, wishing she'd get on with her explanation.

"Impressive." She looked at Stephanie. "And you've already kissed him and the two of you seem very relaxed together. Quite an improvement."

Stephanie's eyes widened with surprise. How could this woman know she'd kissed Ranger the night before? Was someone spying on her? Stalking her? Before she could ask, Stella began speaking again.

"The two of you have been together in many different lifetimes over the centuries," she said, still gazing at Stephanie. "You, my dear, are almost always the reason it takes the two of you so long to get together and declare your love for one another. You alternately fight it, sabotage it and/or ignore it - it being the obvious natural attraction you have for one another. Eventually, the two of you work it out and live happily until death you do part - temporarily." She turned to Ranger then.

"You, Ranger, are not without some of the blame. You have a penchant for being born into the mold of a warrior. In each and every lifetime you set out to save the world and to find and protect your woman. Eventually, you're successful in finding and protecting your woman, but sometimes you push her away because you're so caught up in playing the role of warrior and hero, you begin to view yourself as larger than life, and begin to believe you're more of a danger to her than a protector. Which is bullshit, I might add," she said with a smirk.

When Stella stopped speaking, the room was silent for a good two minutes. Stephanie and Ranger were frozen in place. Either this woman was truly a psychic and was giving them a rare glimpse into their past lives or she was a colossal fake, deliberately messing with them.

Ranger found his voice before Stephanie found hers. "Why should we believe any of this?" Just because you know I go by the name Ranger doesn't prove anything. Someone could have given you that information."

"And someone told me Stephanie kissed you last night?" she challenged.

Ranger had no answer for that, but his dark brown eyes were taking in every emotion that crossed Stella's face, every movement of her eyes and hands. Her body language was relaxed and there was no indication she was lying or intentionally messing with them.

Stephanie spoke up then as she crossed her arms over her chest; a sure sign she was not open to believing what Stella was telling them. "If this is all true, why didn't you say something to me when my friend and I came to see you a few years ago?"

Stella held out her hands toward Stephanie, palms up. "You, my dear, were not ready to hear. If I had told you your soul mate was going to meet up with you in a few years, you might have altered the course of your life. You may not have made all the changes you've made to become the competent, successful woman you are today. As it is, this is one of your better lifetimes. The last time you were this happy was when you were the mistress to King Richard III."

Ranger jerked his head to look at Stephanie and Stephanie's eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Just kidding," Stella chuckled merrily. Richard III was a ruthless dickhead. You never would have fallen for him," she said thoughtfully.

Ranger had the eerie feeling Stella was recalling an actual memory and it was difficult to wrap his head around it all. Still, some of what she said rang true to him. Not that he had any memories from past lives, but there was something about Stephanie. The tingle he felt on the back of his neck when they met and when she was near. The way he was drawn to her like no other. The way his feelings for her were almost instantaneous. His need to protect her, the way he felt he'd known her forever. Was it possible?

He focused his attention back on Stella. "Tell me something else you know about me. Something you couldn't know if you weren't psychic."

"You have three loyal companions," she told him. "In this lifetime they call themselves Bobby, Tank and Lester. The three of them are also warriors, though Lester was once a court jester. Bobby was once a judge and later an architect. The four of you have fought many battles together over several lifetimes."

She paused for a moment as though she was trying to determine whether or not she should reveal more. Eventually, she spoke again. "In the 14th century, I was Bobby's mother, but at that time, we lived in Spain and he went by Roberto. You called him, Berto, for short. The three of them will be joining you shortly and you will build a great business together."

Ranger was stunned. He looked at Stephanie who was waiting for him to confirm the information. He gave a barely perceptible nod. "Bobby, Tank, Lester and I served in the Rangers together, he told her. They're waiting for me to contact them about setting up the security business I've been telling you about. There have been times, on missions, when I've referred to him as Berto, but never really knew why I did it."

"You cannot wait any longer to call them," Stella interrupted. "Today's meeting is about more than discussing your past with Stephanie. It's about Pete Saffron. I did a reading on him for my own purposes and that's when I realized you were involved. He knows he's a wanted man and he knows you're coming after him. He's laid a trap for you and without the help of your companions, you and your beautiful soul mate will fall victim to his evil plan. You must not go after him until your friends arrive as backup. You must plan carefully. I will help in any way I can, but I cannot interfere in any physical way. You must listen to me and heed my advice. It's up to you after that. Do I make myself clear?"

Ranger was surprised to feel Stephanie slip her hand into his. He gave it a gentle squeeze and hoped it reassured her a bit. He ran his other hand through his hair and considered his options. Looking Stella squarely in the eye, he said, "I'll put in a call to the guys and let them know they're needed here as soon as possible. In the meantime, Stephanie and I will stay away from Pete and just continue our research and gather as many facts as we can."

Stella smiled widely and said, "Good answer." Then, patting the bun on her head, she said, "I'd like a moment to speak with each of you alone before you go."

Ranger and Stephanie exchanged a _do you want to go first look_, but Stella interrupted. "Stephanie first."

Ranger gave a slight nod and let himself out of the room to wait in the hallway.

Stella reached across the table and took Stephanie's smooth young hands in her own wrinkled hands. "Listen to me, Stephanie. Let him in to your heart. He is a good man and loves you dearly. Stop fighting what you feel for him. The two of you are always better together than apart."

Stephanie blew at a tendril of hair that was brushing against her cheek. "But I just met him yesterday," she complained.

This caused Stella to chuckle. "No, my dear, you met him 713 years ago. The two of you have spent many lifetimes together. He has never loved another woman."

Stephanie sucked in a breath and choked on her own saliva. She pulled her hands from Stella's to grab a tissue from the box on the table. "Excuse me," she said softly, once she stopped coughing. "In over 700 years, he's never been with another woman?" she asked incredulously.

Stella threw her head back and laughed. "I didn't say he's never been with another woman, silly girl. But, in every lifetime, his soul directs him to seek you out, and when he finds you, he is faithful until death. His soul is wiser and more evolved than yours and he knows what he wants as soon as he finds you. You should be happy and proud as he is one of the most beautiful souls the universe has ever produced, both inside and out."

"Wow," was the only thing Stephanie could think of to say.

"Wow is right," Stella said with a smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners. Now, wait outside in the hallway and send your handsome man back inside. I need to speak with him."

Stephanie went out to the hallway. "She wants to talk to you now," she whispered.

"Babe, are you okay?"

"Yes, why?"

"Er, you seem a little dazed, is all. And you're whispering."

She swept her eyes from his hair down to his feet as if really seeing him for the first time. Stella was right, he was beautiful. Gorgeous. And kind and smart and funny and ... oh my god, he wanted _her _- Stephanie Plum. "I'm fine," she said breathlessly, figuring she was probably lying. "Go see her so we can leave."

Ranger leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "I'll be right back, Babe."

Back in the room, he took his previous seat across from Stella. "What else did you want to say to me?"

"Be patient with her. Her soul is not as advanced as yours, though I must say, she's making remarkable progress this time around. Still, it confuses her. She likes to spend part of each lifetime living in denial, so she's kind of all over the place this time. She's likely to kiss you one minute and tell you to go away the next."

"Been there, done that," Ranger said with a smirk. "Anything else?"

"Yes, there is one more thing, Carlos."

Ranger looked startled. "How do you know my name is Carlos?"

"As you should have been able to tell by now, I know many things. This is not the first lifetime you've gone by the name of Carlos, however, that's a story for another time.

"Take your woman and keep her safe. Do not allow her to come into contact with Pete Saffron, but do not directly tell her you're keeping them apart. Your soul is advanced enough to cope with changing the future in the short-term. Her soul is not. She will fight you on this if she's aware you're doing it on purpose. You must work out your plans with Bobby, Tank and Lester behind her back and take care of the problem without involving her. You don't remember this right now, Ranger, but in the mid 16th century, he killed her. He tried again a few years ago when she was working as a bounty hunter. He must be taken care of before they have a chance to meet again."

"Should I tell Tank, Bobby and Lester why I need to keep them apart?"

"No, the fewer people who know the details, the better. Now go. We'll speak again once the men have joined you." She reached into the pocket of her long, flowing black skirt and handed him a card with her number. "Call me when the four of you have your plan ready and I'll do another reading to check on the outcome."

**A/N - That's it for chapter 6. Hope you liked it. Thanks for following along and for your generous feedback.**

**Kristine **


	7. Chapter 7

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

**_From the end of chapter 6:_**

**_"No, the fewer people who know the details, the better. Now go. We'll speak again once the men have joined you." She reached into the pocket of her long, flowing black skirt and handed him a card with her number. "Call me when the four of you have your plan ready and I'll do another reading to check on the outcome."  
_**

**Chapter 7**

Ranger thanked Stella and felt a tingle on the back of his neck when she covered one of his hands with her own. "Be careful, my dear," she told him in a soft gentle voice.

Something, either in her words or tone of voice, nagged at Ranger's mind, but he dismissed it, knowing Stephanie was waiting out in the hallway for him alone. He gave Stella a nod and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

"Are you okay?" Stephanie asked. "What did she say? You look distracted."

Ranger grabbed Stephanie's hand and headed for the front door, but stopped suddenly. "Shoot. I forgot to pay her," he said, pulling Stephanie back toward the sunroom. He let go of her hand and pulled some money from the pocket of his cargo pants. "I'll be right back."

Stephanie leaned against the wall while Ranger entered the room. A few seconds later, he was back with a note in his hand. He looked around, confused.

"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked him.

"She's gone and this note was on the table." Ranger handed Steph the note to read. It said: _Don't be ridiculous, Carlos. I have never charged you for a reading and never will_. _Buy your woman some flowers or ... better yet ... a new hamster._

"Oh my god, she knows about Rex! Where could she have gone? We've been right here in the hallway the whole time. And when did she do other readings for you?"

Ranger shook his head. "I don't know and I don't know. There's a door in the sunroom that leads outside, but it's boarded shut. It's like she just disappeared."

Steph grabbed Ranger's hand. "Let's get out of here. This is the strangest experience I've ever had."

Ranger squeezed her hand and gave her a sideways glance as they headed to the front door again. "The strangest, really? Are you sure it wasn't your affair with Richard III?" he teased.

"Oh, you're as funny as a rubber crutch, Ranger Danger. I can tell you didn't spend the past 700 years working on your stand-up routine."

Ranger opened her door and helped her into the SUV. After closing the door, he ran around to the driver's side and slid behind the wheel. "Warriors don't do stand-up, Babe," he deadpanned, causing her to smile.

They were quiet for the next few minutes as Ranger drove them out of the hood and back into more familiar territory.

He cut his eyes over to Stephanie and saw her punching numbers into the calculator on her iPhone. She paused and glanced at his profile. "So, do you believe her?" she asked.

Ranger drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. "If you'd asked me this morning if I believed in soul mates and past lives, I'd have laughed out loud. Now? I can't help thinking there's something to it. How else could she know some of the things she knew? How did she know about Rex or that you kissed me last night? How did she know about my plans to build a business with Tank and Lester and Bobby? How did she leave that note which she didn't even have time to write and how did she disappear?"

"I know," Steph agreed. "It's all very weird, but somehow it must be true. My Spidey sense didn't pick up any deception on her part."

They were quiet again and Stephanie went back to punching numbers into the calculator. "Yowzer!" she whispered rather loudly after peering more closely at the readout on the calculator. "Ranger, if everything she said was true, how many times do you think we've had sex?"

Ranger barked out a laugh. "I have no idea, Babe, but if that's the first question on your mind, it explains why I go looking for you every lifetime and don't give up until I find you," he said with a wolf grin.

Stephanie backhanded him on his arm causing him to laugh even harder. "Smartass."

When he finally stopped laughing, he said, "I guess this blows your theory all to hell, Babe."

Stephanie was focused on her calculator again, punching in a new set of numbers. "What theory is that?"

"This morning, you suggested you don't have what it takes to hang on to a man. Come to find out, you've had me on the hook for over 700 years. I'm guessing you not only have what it takes, you also know how to use it," he said as he pulled into her driveway.

Stephanie felt her face flush a bit, but giggled in spite of her embarrassment. "Another question for you, Ranger Danger. How many times do you think we've kissed?"

Ranger released his seatbelt and slid closer to her. His left hand cupped the right side of her face and he leaned down and thoroughly kissed her. Breaking the kiss, he leaned back a bit and caught her eyes. "I have no idea, but if you're planning to keep track this time, that was number two. I'm pretty sure you're going to need a bigger data plan for your iPhone before this lifetime is through."

Stephanie's eyes grew larger.

"Does the thought of a lot of kissing surprise you, Babe?"

She gave him a playful grin. "No, I just didn't know the calculator was eating up my data plan. I pretty sure you're messing with me about that."

"Possibly," he admitted with a grin, although I wasn't teasing about the kissing." He tugged on one of her curls and smiled as he watched it bounce around once he released it.

"Is six o'clock good, Babe?"

He was sitting so close to her and smelled so heavenly, he was making it hard for her to think. "I'm not sure if six o'clock is good or not. It may be a matter of opinion. It's also possible six o'clock is just a placeholder between five o'clock and seven o'clock."

Ranger barked out another laugh. "Now I know why I keep seeking you out, Babe, you really are good for my soul."

Stephanie didn't reply and he saw the confused look on her face. "Babe, we have a dinner date tonight. I was wondering if six o'clock is a good time to come back and pick you up."

Stephanie shot up straighter in her seat and looked out the windshield, noticing for the first time that they were sitting in her driveway at her house. Holy cow, talk about not being aware of her surroundings!_ "_I knew that," she lied. "Six o'clock is good."

She stuffed her iPhone into her purse, pulled out her key ring, unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the door and hopped out all in one quick continuous motion. Without taking time to think about it, she blew him a kiss. "Don't be late, my handsome, brave warrior."

"I shall be one minute early, my beautiful fair maiden," he quipped, blowing her a kiss in return. It made him feel silly, but he didn't care one bit. He was going to spend the rest of this lifetime with a beautiful, smart, sexy, funny, intriguing, blue-eyed woman named Stephanie, and it was gonna be good.

Stephanie went inside and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator, then headed to her office to start her searches for the day. She needed to work fast because she was a bit behind schedule from this morning's outing with Ranger. Her hand went to her lips when she remembered the spark that shot through her when he kissed her. She had no idea how slowly or quickly things were going to move from now on, but she was no longer worried about being in a new relationship. It was as though everything changed in the blink of an eye and suddenly everything felt sort of magical. She sighed as she moved her mouse to bring her computer out of sleep mode. Just yesterday, she had all kinds of reservations about Ranger and now she had to admit she was falling in love.

Ranger pulled out of her driveway, then pulled over on the side of the road. He opened the file for the skip named Doug Griffin and got the address for his sister. Punching it into his GPS, he headed out to bring him in.

Doug was indeed at his sister's house. Another thing Stephanie had been right about. Less than two hours after leaving her house, he was dropping Doug off at the Trenton Police Department. Once he collected the body receipt, he headed to his apartment which was less than five minutes from the TPD.

The apartment was large and had two bedrooms. It was located above an independent hardware store. Ranger had been told the apartment once belonged to the well-to-do owner of the hardware store which explained why it was much nicer than your average two bedroom apartments in the area.

It had two full bathrooms, hardwood floors, large expensive area rugs, a fireplace, and a built-in bar as well as a large living room and combination kitchen-dining room. It also had a small laundry room with a washer and dryer included in the rent.

The owner had passed on and his two sons were running the store, but both owned their own home so they rented out the apartment. The outside door was accessible from a set of steps at the back of the building.

As Ranger ran up the steps, he felt goosebumps rise up on his arms, though his gut didn't sense any danger. Still, he pulled his gun and opened the door slowly after turning the key.

Stepping silently inside, he immediately saw the source of the goosebumps. "Santos!" he said with a big grin. "I was just going to call you. What the hell are you doing here?" He tucked his gun back into the waistband of his pants and crossed the room to share a complicated handshake with his cousin.

"Hey, Ranger. Good to see you, man." Hope you don't mind me letting myself in."

"Not at all, but why are you here?" Ranger motioned with his hand toward the kitchen and Lester followed him.

"I'm not sure, really. I just had a weird feeling I needed to be here so I hopped in my truck and headed this way. The drive is less than an hour, so I figured if you weren't actually in trouble, we could at least visit for a while and catch up."

Ranger grabbed two beers from the refrigerator and they each took a seat at the table. Ranger laughed. "You could have called first, but that really wouldn't be like you. I'm glad you're here, though."

Ranger spent the next fifteen minutes filling Lester in on Pete Saffron, Stephanie and the things they'd been told by Stella.

Lester let out a low whistle when he was through. "That's some crazy shit, Ranger, but the weird thing is, I was getting these weird vibrations when you were talking. They were sort of like little confirmations about the things you were saying."

Ranger got up and fetched two more beers from the fridge. "I know exactly what you're talking about. I've been getting a weird tingling feeling on the back of my neck and spine when I'm around Stephanie and it happened with Stella too."

Lester twisted the cap off his new bottle of beer. "I'm not sure what to make of all this, Ranger, but I do know the next step. "We need to get on the phone and get Bobby and Tank out here."

"That's exactly what I planned to do when I got home a little while ago. I'll call them in a few minutes. You're staying here tonight, right?"

"If it's okay by you," Lester said, glancing around. "Nice place you found here."

"It'll do until I have Rangeman up and running," Ranger said with a shrug. "Once Bobby and Tank get here, we'll have to figure out where everyone will sleep. Tonight you get the guest room all to yourself."

"Sounds good. You wanna rent a movie or hit a couple of bars tonight?" Lester grinned and his green eyes flashed.

Ranger laughed. To Lester, hitting a few bars was synonymous to hitting on a few women. "Can't. I have a date tonight. I hate to leave you here by yourself since you just got here, but I really need to keep this date."

"Stephanie?" Les asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course, Stephanie. You think after everything I just told you, I'd be going out with someone else tonight?"

Lester shrugged. "It seems like after 700 years with the same woman, you'd be ready to move on," he said with a laugh.

"Not this woman," Ranger told him. "And, it's not like we've been together for 700 continuous years, just several lifetimes. That said, I'm hoping when it comes to Steph, I've got a good seven or eight hundred more years left in me."

Lester swirled around what beer was left in his bottle and eyed his friend. "Fine with me. The fewer women you get involved with means more for me."

"And you can have them, man-whore." Ranger held out his bottle for a toast. "I've found the only one I need ... again."

**A/N - Hope you like chapter 7. Thank you again for the reviews for chapter 6. I'm glad Stella was a hit.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

**What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?**

**_Lester swirled around what beer was left in his bottle and eyed his friend. "Fine with me. The fewer women you get involved with means more for me."_**

_**"And you can have them, man-whore." Ranger held out his bottle for a toast. "I've found the only one I need ... again."**_

**Chapter 8**

While Stephanie waited for her searches to run and print, she spent some time searching online for information about soul mates and past lives. There was no lack of information, but there was also no clear cut consensus on how these things worked, though some theories were more widely accepted than others.

She decided to make a list of questions and go back to visit Stella. Certainly she should be able to get some solid information from her. One article said soul mates do not always have a romantic relationship when they meet up. They can be good friends in one life, lovers in another life, co-workers in yet another life and even brother and sister or parent and child. _Ewww_, Stephanie thought. Going from lovers to brother and sister just didn't seem right, but then she realized she was thinking of it from her own very narrow, current lifetime, frame of reference_. _She definitely had more questions than answers.

Most articles said karma and reincarnation go hand in hand and some of the people who wrote the articles actually believe we pick our own parents before we are born into each lifetime. Fascinating stuff, but totally foreign to Stephanie.

Stella also said that she, Stella, had met Ranger many times in the past and Stephanie wanted to question her more about that. Last, but certainly not least, she wanted to see if she could get some more information about Pete Saffron. Stephanie had a bad feeling about him and wanted to be able to help Ranger bring him in safely.

Once her most urgent searches were completed and the pertinent information noted and her suggestions written, she faxed them back to her clients.

There were six messages on her office voice mail. She listened to each one and returned the four that were waiting for a reply. Three were requests for searches which she turned down, much to the dismay of the clients. She apologized and felt bad for letting them down, but she wanted to lighten up her schedule for the next couple of weeks so she had time to spend getting to know Ranger better.

Glancing at her watch, she noted she had four hours until it was time for Ranger to pick her up for their date. Plenty of time to go see Stella and still have time to get back and be ready.

In the kitchen, she removed her stun gun from her utility belt and checked to make sure it had a full charge. Next, she removed her .38. She strapped on two ankle holsters and added the stun gun and the .38. She didn't want to go down to Stark Street without weapons, but she also didn't want to go down there with them on display. Earlier, she didn't mind because she was with Ranger and he was also 'dressed', but she knew there were gang members down there who would laugh if they saw a woman 'dressed' and would feel compelled to challenge her to show her who was boss.

She swapped out her boots for a pair of running shoes and stood in front of the full length mirror to make sure her jeans were long enough and make sure it didn't look obvious she was carrying. After turning around and peering over her shoulder and then at a side angle, she declared herself good to go.

She tore her list of questions for Stella from the pad of paper on her desk, grabbed her purse and keys and headed for the garage.

r/s + r/s

Sixteen minutes later, she was knocking on Stella's front door. There was no answer and Stephanie wondered if she was in the middle of a reading. She waited another minute and then tried the door knob. The door was unlocked, so she went inside.

She made her way down the hallway to the office where Stella did her readings, but the room was empty. Stephanie frowned when she looked at the tarot card spread on the table. It was the same T shape with the same cards turned up as when she and Ranger had been there earlier. Apparently, she hadn't had another customer between then and now.

Stephanie heard the front door open and a woman called out Stella's name. She made her way back to the front door and found a short, stout, middle-age woman wearing a flowery blue house dress, her brunette hair wound in old-fashioned pink foam curlers.

"I'm Emma," the woman said. "I have an appointment with Stella and I'm a couple of minutes late."

"I'm Stephanie. I don't believe she's here, although I haven't checked the rest of the house. It's very quiet and she's not in her reading room ... er, office."

"Do you have an appointment?" Emma asked.

"No, I had one earlier today. I just came back to ask her some follow-up questions."

The two women stood in the hallway and made small talk while waiting to see if Stella would show up. Finally, Emma hiked her cloth drawstring bag up on her shoulder. "I guess she's out. I hope it wasn't an emergency, it's not like her to miss an appointment. I guess I'll go and call her later to reschedule."

Stephanie opened the front door for her. "I'm going to wait a few more minutes."

Emma nodded and left and Stephanie closed the door. She walked to the end of the short hallway to the entrance of the living room and called Stella's name. There was no reply, but a tingle crept up Stephanie's spine and she knew the woman was somewhere in the house.

Walking as quietly as she could, she checked out the kitchen and two bedrooms, but found no one. The door to the bathroom was open and it was apparent no one was in there either. She made her way back to Stella's office and walked in. Instantly, she knew something was wrong. Her Spidey sense was going bonkers. She no sooner crossed the threshold when she was struck on the back of her head with a heavy object and everything went dark.

**A/N - It's been a busy weekend, so this is just a short chapter to tide everyone over until I can get a longer one posted. Hope to have one up by Tuesday night. Giant thank you to everyone who is reading along and for all the wonderful feedback. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

**What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?**

**_She made her way back to Stella's office and walked in. Instantly, she knew something was wrong. Her Spidey sense was going bonkers. She no sooner crossed the threshold when she was struck on the back of her head with a heavy object and everything went dark.  
_**  
**Chapter 9**

Though the force of the blow was enough to knock her out, it wasn't a complete blackout. Fortunately, Stephanie began to regain consciousness before she even hit the floor. With great effort, she pushed aside the pain and struggled to sit up quickly, desperate to keep the weapons at her ankles hidden.

She looked up expecting to see the scarred, cruel face of Pete Saffron. Wrong guess. There were two men hovering over her and neither one was Pete. These must be the two guys Lula mentioned who were not from around here, but had been hanging out with Pete.

They appeared to be in their late 20s and were wearing expensive designer jeans and shirts with $200 sneakers. Stephanie was pretty sure they weren't legally earning the money for their wardrobes.

One was looking at her with a derisive smirk, clearly pleased they had her in a bind. The other had a face that was almost as blank as the one Ranger was able to conjure up for her. She suspected he was high on something.

"Get up," barked the one who had been smirking at her. "Slowly. No sudden moves, bitch or you'll be eating a bullet."

Stephanie nodded, giving a quick glance at the Glock in his hand. She slowly got to her feet and held up her hands to assure them she wasn't going to try anything. "What do you want with me and where is Stella?" she asked, keeping her voice firm and steady, but trying not to sound pushy. The last thing she wanted to do was piss them off.

"Stella, the psychic witch is in the basement waiting for you. Pete said you'd be nosy enough to show back up here to talk to her again. 'Least this time you're not wearing your little belt full of weapons. Score one for us, zero for you, stupid bitch."

A sense of relief flooded through Stephanie. They'd seen her wearing her utility belt earlier and now that she wasn't wearing it, they assumed she was unarmed. Score one for her, score zero for them.

The guy with the Glock grabbed her purse and pointed at a tall armoire against one wall. "Open the door to that clothing closet thingy," he ordered.

Stephanie did as she was told and was shocked when she opened the door to the armoire and found it had no back. The back had been removed and there was a doorway cut into the wall. On the other side of the wall was a set of steps leading downward. Apparently this was the way to the basement.

"Move it," he ordered, jabbing her in the back with his gun. "Get going before I shove your ass down those stairs."

Stephanie stepped into the armoire and held on to the edges of the opening in the wall as she carefully stepped down to the first tread. She made her way down as quickly as she could and found herself in a semi-finished basement with a bare concrete floor and cinder block walls that had been painted with a pale yellow semi-gloss paint.

Straight in front of her, against the far wall, Stella was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed in front of her. Her hands and ankles were tied with rope and the rope was tied to some copper pipes that ran almost the entire length of the wall. Their eyes met and Stephanie was relieved to see that Stella was more pissed off than scared and she didn't appear to be hurt.

"Get your ass over on the floor next to your _friend_," said the guy with the Glock at her back. So far, the guy who looked like he was high hadn't spoken.

Steph quickly crossed the room and sat down next to Stella, making sure her jeans kept her gun and stun gun hidden. "Do you two have names and would you like to tell me what the heck you want?" Stephanie asked, looking from one to the other. If she could keep them looking at her face instead of her jeans near her ankles, that would suit her just fine.

The guy with the Glock was the one to answer again. After tossing Stephanie's purse to the other side of the room, he turned back to give her a cold stare. "Not that you're going to be around long enough to use them, but I'm Sid and this is Jimmy," he said, nodded his head toward his companion.

"Jimmy doesn't have a lot to say," Stephanie remarked.

"You should take a lesson from him in that regard." He turned toward Jimmy, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and pulled him over to the stairs. "I got this covered. Go upstairs and call Pete to let him know we got her, then keep a look out so no one else comes in. Let me know right away if you see that bounty hunter headed this way. You remember what he looks like?"

While Sid was distracted giving orders to Jimmy, Stephanie crossed her legs Indian style then reached under her pant leg and pulled out her stun gun. She tucked it under her thigh and quickly put her hands back in her lap. Her eyes cut over to Stella and she saw the woman's mouth tilt up at the corner.

After getting his instructions from Sid, Jimmy turned and wordlessly climbed back up the stairs.

Sid came back over and knelt in front of Stephanie. "I'm going to tie your hands up like the Salem witch next to you and I don't want any trouble. Pete has plans for you, but I won't hesitate to kill you if you don't behave. Got it?"

Stephanie was utterly thankful that this guy was such an idiot. Besides not checking her for weapons, he sent his backup man out of the room before having her secured. Sid wasn't going to know what hit him.

"I'm not going to give you any trouble," Steph lied. "I don't have a death wish, ya know."

Sid pulled a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket. "Hold out your hands."

Steph cut her eyes to Stella for a quick second, hoping to convey to her the need for a distraction.

Stephanie held one arm out first and slowly started to bring her other hand forward.

"Why does she get handcuffs and I get this scratchy rope?" Stella demanded loudly.

When Sid shifted his glare to Stella, Stephanie grabbed her stun gun and zapped the hand Sid had been holding the handcuffs in. He slumped over immediately and Stephanie grabbed his Glock then cuffed his hands behind him and drug his body a few feet away from Stella.

"Nice work," Stella told her, but what the heck are you doing here, young lady?"

Stephanie barked out a small laugh. "The only person who has ever called me young lady is my mother. She ... " Stephanie frowned and walked over to kneel in front of Stella. As she got her loose from the ropes, she said, "Stella, were you and I related in another life?"

"Shouldn't we go get that Jimmy fellow and get out of here before we discuss personal business?" Stella asked.

Stephanie threw the rope aside, stood and reached out a hand to help Stella to her feet. "Actually, I'm hoping to lure him back down here where I can keep them both stunned until the police get here. And Pete too if he shows up."

"I don't want you anywhere near Pete!" Stella said loudly, anxiety flashing across her usually calm face."

"What aren't you telling me, Stella? I'm just going to keep coming back here and bugging you until you tell me, so you might as well just get it over with."

Stella rubbed her temples and then smoothed out her long black skirt, stalling for time. "First, let's get Jimmy down here and secure him. Better he come down here on our schedule than his. If we wait too long, Pete might come down with him and then we'll have to deal with two of them."

"Smart thinking," Stephanie agreed. She walked over to the bottom of the stairs. "Cover your ears, Stella."

Stella placed her hands over her ears and Stephanie let out a hellacious scream, then ducked under the stairs.

A few seconds later, Jimmy yelled from inside the armoire. "Sid? What the hell is going on down there?"

Stephanie raised her eyebrows. _Well, what do you know, he can speak, after all_, she thought.

She and Stella remained silent and once again Jimmy yelled down the stairs. "Sid, what's going on? Answer me, asshole!"

"I think he's hurt," Stephanie yelled. "I'm not sure what's wrong with him. Has he been drinking?"

"What the fuck?" Jimmy said, making his way down the stairs holding his gun loosely in his right hand.

As soon as he cleared the bottom step, Stephanie stepped out from under the stairs and zapped him. Jimmy and his gun hit the concrete floor and Stella hurried over with two pieces of rope. Stephanie kicked his gun out of the way and the two women tied his arms behind his back and then tied his ankles.

Stephanie walked over to check on Sid and gave him another zap in case he had plans on coming to before the police got there. "We need to listen for Pete," she told Stella. I don't want to be caught off guard by him. Can you shoot a gun, Stella?"

Stella rolled her eyes much the way Stephanie does, with real gusto, and said, "Of course I can shoot a gun. You don't get to be my age without learning how to shoot a gun."

"Good, take Jimmy's and check to make sure it's loaded and that the safety is on."

"Still bossy, I see," Stella said with a smirk, picking the gun up off the floor.

"I beg your pardon?" Stephanie gave her a surprised look. "What is that supposed to mean?"

A battered wooden table sat in one corner of the room and Stella nodded toward it. "Sit, my child, and I'll answer some of your questions."

Stephanie placed the Glock and stun gun on the table and sat down across from Stella.

Stella checked the safety on the gun she held then placed it on the table in front of her. "I'll tell you a few things that you will probably find the most interesting, my dear. In the mid 16th century, you were my daughter. We lived in Spain and our family name was Salinas. When you were born, I named you Carmen. Your father died from an untreatable lung disease when you were sixteen. It was just the two of us after that.

"At that time, the Spanish Renaissance was in full swing and Spain was the wealthiest country in Europe. Your father had provided well for us, but I knew the money wouldn't last forever so I drew on the one thing I'd been taught as a child and became a seamstress. I began to teach you to sew too, but mostly you picked up and delivered my work for me.

"When you turned eighteen, you met a man named Carlos Montero. You now know him as Ranger. The two of you fell in love and he asked for your hand in marriage. I saw that he was a kind man who loved you greatly and treated you well, so I gave my blessing and the two of you were married.

It was shortly before the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire and in the decades leading up to the conquest, many battles were fought. Carlos was sent to fight in some of those battles. While he was gone, you would come stay with me. You hated being alone and I tried to keep you busy so you wouldn't have time to worry about your dear husband.

"There was a man who lived in town who fancied himself a great painter. His name was Diego Bustillo. You now know him as Pete Saffron. Rather than being a great painter, he was a nasty drunk. Two young woman had disappeared from town and it was suspected Diego was behind their disappearance, but there was no evidence, only rumors that the two girls had sought out work, posing nude for him for his pitiful paintings."

Stephanie was totally fascinated by what she was hearing, but wanted to remain aware of her surroundings so she held up a hand for Stella to pause while she checked on the two unconscious men. Sid, who'd had two zaps was still out cold, but Steph had a hinky feeling about Jimmy, so she zapped him again and then rejoined Stella at the table. "I'm going to call the police now and you can tell me more while we wait for them."

Stella nodded her agreement and waited while Stephanie called the Trenton P.D. and explained where she was and what was going on. Disconnecting her phone, she turned back to Stella and urged her to continue.

"One time, while Carlos was away doing battle and you were staying with me, I asked you to deliver some sewing to a woman who lived in town. On your way back, you saw Diego leaving town on his horse. He had something thrown across the horse, but covered it with a blanket. You, being the nosy young woman you were, peered at him long enough that you finally noticed there was long hair hanging down, not quite covered up with the blanket.

"You immediately went to the authorities and reported what you'd seen. Sure enough, they followed Diego and found that the young woman on his horse was dead. He had raped her and killed her and was on his way to bury her body.

"Because of your quick action, he was charged and sentenced to death. This was why he had a grudge with you. Before he could be put to death, he escaped. Before fleeing town, he came to our house and waited for you to come outside. We found out later that he was scared off before anything could happen. He got away and left town.

"When Carlos came back, he was scared for you that Diego would some day come back to kill you, so he went off and tracked him down. Three weeks later, he came back and turned Diego over to the authorities. They finally carried out his execution.

"Pete Saffron doesn't know or remember any of this, but his soul does. Our soul holds all our memories. There was an inner fury when he met up with you in this lifetime and that's why he tried to kill you when you were a bounty hunter. It wasn't just the fact that you were trying to bring him in, it was more than that. He had a need for revenge against you that even he didn't understand. That need for revenge also extends to Ranger, even though he doesn't realize that Ranger is, Carlos, the man who brought Diego to the authorities to be executed."

Stephanie was captivated by the story, but it was so hard to wrap her head around it. "All these coincidences, all of us meeting up here in this life, it just doesn't seem possible," Stephanie said.

Stella reached out and covered one of Stephanie's hands with her own. "My dear, there are no coincidences. Everything and everyone in the universe is connected. It's just not always apparent."

Stephanie wanted to learn more, but she could hear sirens in the distance and knew the police would be there in a few minutes. Then, she heard the front door slam upstairs and heard loud footsteps pound across the floor. Pete.

She motioned for Stella to hide under the stairs and grabbed the Glock and joined her there. Pete came down the stairs firing his gun aimlessly. She figured he knew something was wrong. He'd probably tried to get a hold of his men and knew something was up when they didn't respond.

When he saw their bodies cuffed and tied on the floor, he paused momentarily, then started shooting again, turning in a circle. Stephanie knew there was a real chance he could hit either her or Stella and as he turned closer to where they were hidden, she raised the Glock and shot him, twice, as one of his bullets grazed past her shoulder.

He wasn't dead, but he was down, stunned and whimpering softly. Stephanie went over and booted his gun out of reach and held the Glock pointed at him. Blood was seeping through his shirt where she'd shot him, once in each shoulder. Stephanie could see the hatred in his eyes as he stared at her. She could tell he wanted to come at her again and the Glock was the only thing keeping him from following through.

There were more footsteps pounding overhead and this time she knew it was the police. She could hear one of them shouting orders to the others then heard her cousin, Eddie, a Trenton officer, call her name.

"We're in the basement, Eddie," she yelled. "Through the armoire in the sunroom."

It took a long time to explain what happened and to get their statements written out and signed. The police had a million and one questions. Pete's two goons had already been removed from the basement.

An ambulance had been called and Pete was strapped to a gurney. When the paramedics were getting ready to take him upstairs, Stella glared at him and said, "You'll be going to jail for a long time. Better hope you don't get killed there too quickly. God is already mad at you and she hates assholes."

Pete's already pale complexion developed an even more extreme pallor and he looked away from her as the paramedics pushed the gurney toward the stairs.

Stella turned to Stephanie and saw the shocked look on her face. "What?" she asked.

Steph leaned close to her and whispered. "Is God really a woman?"

Stella grinned from ear to ear. "I have no idea. But, if she is, it would stand to reason she hates assholes, right?"

**A/N - Thanks for reading and for the reviews for chapter 8. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wonder what Ranger will say when he finds out Steph captured his dangerous, high-dollar skip without his help?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

**What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?**

**O-O-O  
**

_**Steph leaned close to her and whispered. "Is God really a woman?"**_

_**Stella grinned from ear to ear. "I have no idea. But, if she is, it would stand to reason she hates assholes, right?"**_

_**O-O-O  
**_

**Chapter 10**

Stephanie laughed and nodded her head in agreement. Giving Stella's arm a gentle squeeze, she excused herself to go in search of her purse. Fortunately, someone had picked it up off the floor and put it on the table where she and Stella sat to have their talk earlier.

She draped the strap over her shoulder and looked around the crowded basement for the lead detective. It looked like half the cops in Trenton were in attendance along with some plainclothes people she wasn't familiar with. She wanted to know if it was okay for her to leave. It was after four o'clock and she needed to head home so she could get ready for her date with Ranger. She was also curious about the fact Morelli hadn't shown up yet and wanted to get out of there before he did. He was one of two homicide detectives on the Trenton force, but since there was no homicide here, maybe he just decided to keep his nose out of her business for once. The more likely scenario was Morelli was out of town on another assignment.

Finally, she caught the eye of the Trenton vice detective who questioned her earlier. _Good enough, _she thought, making her way over to the tall blonde headed detective. "Excuse me, Detective Henderson, I was wondering if I'm free to leave? I have another appointment I need to get ready for."

The blue-eyed man gave her a cheesy smile. "You can go as long as you're done taking down criminals for the day, Ms. Plum," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "You're single-handedly making the department look bad."

Stephanie might have been charmed if he were being sincere, but she could tell he was only flirting. All she cared about was leaving, so she played along. "Detective Henderson, you flatter me, but I promise I'm done collaring bad guys for the day. I actually gave up bounty hunting over a year ago. Today was pretty much an accident."

"Some accident," he said. "You nabbed a local skip and two fugitives wanted in New York in connection with a series of bank robberies and the hijacking and robbery of a postal delivery truck. I imagine you'll be hearing from the F.B.I. soon."

"Great. Why can't anything be simple?" Stephanie wondered aloud. Before he could answer, she asked, "I'm not going to have to go to New York to testify, am I?"

Detective Henderson shoved his hands in the pockets of his gray dress pants. "Not that I know of. You have no direct knowledge of the crimes they committed there. The Fibbies will want information about their capture, though, and will want to question you to see if they shared any information with you."

Stephanie relaxed a bit. "Well thank goodness I don't know anything about their past crimes," she said truthfully. "I'll see you around, detective."

"Hope so," he said with a smile and a wink.

Steph made sure she did a complete one-eighty before rolling her eyes. She wanted to make a comment about his wedding band, but decided to just keep her mouth shut and walk away.

Scanning the room once again, she noticed Stella had disappeared and she wanted to say goodbye to her. Stephanie looked upstairs and down, but couldn't find her anywhere. When she crossed paths with Eddie, she asked if he'd seen her.

"Yeah," Eddie said. "I saw her a few minutes ago. She said she had to leave and we should make sure the door was locked when we left." He held out a small manila envelope. "She asked me to give this to you."

Stephanie took the envelope and thanked him as she gave him a quick goodbye hug.

She tucked the envelope into her handbag and pulled out her keys as she made her way to her car. Part of her wanted to look in the envelope right away, but another part of her wanted to save it until she got home. She had a feeling Stella wasn't just off on some errand. She was gone and not coming back and that made Stephanie feel grumpy and sad.

There were many more things she wanted to ask her about the lifetime when Stella was her mother and Stephanie had married the 16th century version of Ranger.

As she drove, she shifted her mind to Ranger and their date to keep her mind off Stella. She spent some time running through her wardrobe in her mind trying to figure out what to wear. She thought Randy's Waterfront Inn was on the casual side, but not blue jeans casual. She finally decided on her pastel peach slacks and a white sleeveless shell. She had peach sandals and earrings that perfectly matched the slacks, but she'd need to take the rose color polish off her toenails.

By the time she pulled into her driveway, she had one hour to get ready. _Not a problem_, she said to herself as she walked through the front door and headed for the bathroom.

r/s/r/s

Ranger and Lester had spent the afternoon playing golf and as they sat in the clubhouse afterward, Ranger finally put in the call to Tank that he'd been meaning to make.

"Ranger, how the hell are you?"

"I'm good, old man, how's it going with you?"

"Great. Bobby and I are about fifteen or twenty minutes out."

"Fifteen or twenty minutes out of what?" Ranger asked, frowning on his end of the phone call.

Tank chuckled, his voice deep and rich. "Fifteen or twenty minutes out of Trenton, man."

Ranger let out a small laugh and shook his head. "Doesn't anyone call first any more? Lester showed up here today without calling."

"I know, dude. That's why we're on our way. He called us and said he felt the urge to check up on you and since Bobby and I are still on vacation, we decided to join him. You okay, man?"

"Yeah, I'm great, but I'm not home at the moment. You have my address?"

"Yep. Got it from Les."

"Well Les and I are at a golf course, so we'll head to my place now and meet you there."

"We could meet you at the golf course if you give me the address," Tank said.

"Nah, I've got to get ready for a date. I can't really cancel it so you and Bobby and Lester are going to have to keep yourselves entertained while I'm out."

"A date?" Tank echoed. "The Cuban one night stand aficionado has a date? I've gotta meet this chick."

"You won't be meeting her tonight, Dawg. Make other plans. I mean it." Ranger's tone was threatening.

"Sheesh! You got a date with royalty or something?"

"Better."

Tank was intrigued, but decided to drop the subject for the time being. "You got your game console set up?"

"Of course. I've got some new games too. You guys can try them out or play the old standbys and either battle each other all night or make your fingers bleed with Guitar Hero. See you in a few minutes."

"In a few," Tank repeated before disconnecting.

Ranger and Lester left the clubhouse and hustled out to Ranger's SUV. As Ranger opened the driver side door, his eye caught a glint of sunlight reflecting off something on the seat. He picked it up with a frown, having no idea where it came from. It appeared to be half of a pendant or medallion with words inscribed on it. He flipped it over in his hand a couple times, then stuck it in his pocket, and climbed behind the wheel. Maybe it was a good luck charm of some sort, he thought as he sped toward his apartment.

He certainly felt lucky lately. He'd found a job right away after leaving the Rangers. The FTA bond money was good and he'd met his past and future all rolled up into one smart, beautiful bundle of woman.

As soon as they got back to his apartment, he went to his bedroom to get ready to shower. He emptied his pockets of his change, wallet, keys and cell phone and dumped it all on his dresser.

When he dressed again after his shower he left the change on the dresser, but picked up his phone, wallet and keys and started out of the room. Stopping at the doorway, he turned around and retrieved the medallion piece, dropping it in the front right pocket of his black dress pants.

He heard Tank's booming voice before he actually saw the man and grimaced when he realized Tank was pumping Lester for information about Stephanie.

"I have no idea, man," Lester told Tank. "I swear I haven't met her yet. I think we should check her out though. Ranger seems to have fallen hard and fast for her."

"You two need to chill," Bobby told them. "Ranger's not stupid when it comes to women. He can look out for himself."

Ranger cleared his throat behind them causing Tank and Lester to jump a bit. "At least one of you is thinking clearly," Ranger said nodding toward Bobby.

"Hey man," Tank said, turning to greet his friend. "Good to see you."

"You too," Ranger said, exchanging a familiar, slightly complicated handshake with Tank and then Bobby. "What the hell are the three of you doing in my living room discussing my love life like a group of gossipy old women?"

Tank threw his head back and laughed. "Busted," he said, exchanging quick glances with Lester and Bobby. "We're just looking out for you, man. You never actually date women."

"I do now, and I don't need any comments from the peanut gallery," Ranger said, his voice leaving no room for argument. Glancing at his watch he said, "I've got to get going. I ordered a couple of pizzas for you heathens and they should be here in about five minutes." He tossed some money down on the coffee table. "There's beer in the fridge."

"You're alright for a sissy," Lester said, his green eyes dancing with mischief.

"Fuck you, Santos," Ranger said as he walked out the door. He smiled to himself as the sound of their raucous laughter carried through the door. He was glad he didn't have any neighbors. When they all got together they were loud and boisterous and laughed a lot. He almost wished he'd be joining them tonight. Almost.

r/s/r/s

Stephanie checked her hair, makeup and outfit one last time in the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. _Not bad_, she thought to herself, pleased with the results.

In the kitchen, she looked at the clock and saw she still had five or six minutes until Ranger was scheduled to arrived. She grabbed a piece of note paper and pen and started a list for him. She only had time to write down four items when she heard his truck in the driveway.

Stephanie opened the door and smiled up at his handsome face then swept her eyes downward. He was wearing black dress pants and a polo golf shirt with the Lacoste crocodile logo. The shirt was a medium gray with a charcoal gray collar. Shiny black dress shoes adorned his feet. He'd only been discharged from the service for two and a half weeks, so his Army crew cut was still growing out and it appeared he'd used some gel to give it a messy spiked look. His brown eyes were soft and warm and his smile made her feel tingly from head to toe. "Hey there, come on in," she said, finally finding her voice.

Ranger stepped inside and bent to give her a quick soft kiss. "You look very pretty, Babe. Are you ready to go?"

"Sure, just let me grab my purse and the list I was making for you and we can go."

Before she could walk away, she heard another car in the driveway and looked outside. It was her cousin, Eddie.

"Eddie," she said as he approached the front door. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is great," he said with a smile. He gave Ranger a curious look.

"Oh, Eddie, this is my friend Carlos Manoso. He goes by the nickname Ranger. Ranger, this is my cousin's husband Eddie Gazzara."

"We've met," Eddie told her. "Good to see you, Ranger," he said, holding out his hand.

Ranger shook his hand. "Good to see you too, Eddie."

Stephanie looked from one to the other. "You two know each other?"

Ranger spoke first. "Eddie was at the TDP when I turned in my first skip and collected the body receipt. He introduced himself and then introduced me to a few of the other officers."

"Oh, right. The police station. That makes sense. What can I do for you Eddie? Would you like to come in?"

"Nah, it looks like you two were just leaving. I stopped by because I have some exciting news for you."

Stephanie gave a small laugh. "Yeah, like I haven't had enough excitement for one day."

Eddie grinned at her. "True, but this is good excitement. The two guys you zapped that were doing Pete's dirty work both had a reward on their head. Sid Hartman, $125,000 and Jimmy Robinson, $100,000. Add that to the ten percent from Pete's bond and you're sitting pretty, Steph."

Stephanie was shocked into silence for a long enough moment to notice the confused look on Ranger's face.

Eddie looked from Stephanie to Ranger and back again. "Is there a problem? Did I say something wrong?"

Stephanie was quick to reassure him. "No, no, you didn't say anything wrong. I just haven't had a chance to tell Ranger what happened today. Oh, and the money goes to him. Pete was his skip."

"Wait a second," Ranger said. The look on his face was somewhere between amazed and scared shitless. "You went and picked up Pete on your own?"

"No! Well, not intentionally. It was an accident."

"An accident?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, I'll tell you the details later," she said with pleading eyes, cutting her eyes to Eddie for a split second.

Eddie had no idea what was going on or how the two of them even knew each other, but he could take a hint. "Listen, I've gotta go. Shirley's probably getting ready to put dinner on the table."

"Thanks for stopping by, Eddie. "And for the good news."

"Good seeing you, Eddie," Ranger told him. "The reward and bond money go to Stephanie."

Eddie wasn't about to get in the middle of this. "I'm sure you'll work it out," he told them as he spun around and walked quickly to his car.

Stephanie and Ranger stood very still and stared at one another for a long moment. Finally, Ranger blew out a shaky breath and walked past her, through the living room and into the kitchen.

Stephanie silently followed him, biting her bottom lip. She didn't know him well enough to know if he was shocked or angry.

He stopped when he got to counter and leaned against it. Still, neither of them had spoken. He glanced down and saw the list she'd written. Pepper spray, stun gun, extra pair of handcuffs, lock picking kit.

He picked up the note. "This is for me?"

Stephanie was surprised but thankful for the change of subject. "Yes. I noticed you didn't have those things in your utility belt and you'll likely need them. Obviously, it's much better to stun or pepper spray a skip than to shoot them to bring them in."

Ranger gave a tiny nod. Thank you. I'll pick these things up tomorrow. And did you have all these things with you when you went after Pete this afternoon?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes. She couldn't help it. "I didn't go after Pete this afternoon. I told you, it was an accident."

Ranger crossed his arms over his chest. "You accidentally got in your car and drove down to Stark Street after telling me this morning I should never go down there by myself?"

"Ugh! I didn't say that. I told you to never go down there by yourself when you're going after a violent skip!"

"If you weren't going after Pete, what were you doing down there?"

Stephanie planted her hands on her hips. "Not that it's any of your business, but I went back down there to talk to Stella. I had some questions for her. And, even though I wasn't going after a skip, I did take my gun and my stun gun and that's how I was able to take down Pete and those two goons at Stella's house."

Ranger's eyebrows shot up. "They showed up at Stella's house?"

"Yes. Actually, Sid and Jimmy were there when I got there, I just didn't know it. They had Stella tied up in the basement. I was able to stun them both and get Stella untied. She and I were able to talk for a little while, then Pete showed up, shooting blindly."

Steph paused for a moment, her throat dry from nerves and talking. She walked over to the sink and filled a small glass with water. Drinking it down quickly, she continued. "I had no choice. To keep Stella and I from being hit by a flying bullet, I had to shoot him. I got him once in each shoulder. The police came and took our statements and hauled Sid and Jimmy away. An ambulance took Pete away. That's about it except for the reward money we just heard about from Eddie."

"God Almighty," Ranger said, closing the short gap between them. He gently grabbed her arms and pulled her to him, holding her against his chest. "You could have been killed, Steph," he whispered into her hair.

"But I wasn't and I'm fine, Ranger." She closed her eyes and snuggled against him. His chest was hard as a rock, yet it felt warm and soothing to be in close contact with him, not to mention how delicious he smelled. She wrapped her arms around his waist and allowed him to hold her for a while.

After a few minutes, he shifted one hand and slid his fingers through her hair. Then his had cupped the back of her head and she let out a small yelp.

Ranger quickly released her. "What the heck?" He turned her around and carefully separated her hair, gently checking out the goose egg on the back of her head. "What happened? Did Pete do this?" he asked, turning her back around.

Stephanie avoided his eyes. "No, either Sid or Jimmy did it. I'm not sure which because my back was to them and they knocked me out for a few seconds."

She saw Ranger's hands clench into tight fists. "I'll kill them! Babe, did you go to the hospital to get checked out.?"

"No, I'm fine," Stephanie said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Ranger scrubbed his hands over his face. None of the crazy, scary, dangerous things he'd seen or experienced as an Army Ranger compared to the fear of thinking something bad could happen to the woman in front of him. "Babe," he said gently. "You could have a concussion."

"Yeah, I know, but if I had a concussion they'd just send me home anyway, right?"

Ranger gave a resigned shake of his head. "I'm torn between being so proud of you I could burst and being so frightened for you, I want to lock you in a safe house where no one can hurt you."

Stephanie barked out a laugh. "You just hang on to the proud feeling because locking women up without their permission is illegal in all fifty states."

He gave her his blank look and she sighed. "Look, you should be happy. With all that reward money, you'll be able to open your security business sooner."

Ranger reached out and tucked a stray strand of curls behind her ear. "Steph, you captured them, the money belongs to you."

"Yeah, but Pete was your skip. Your skip, your payday."

Ranger crossed his arms across his chest again. "No way, Babe. Your capture, your reward. I'm not taking the money."

Steph narrowed her eyes at him. "Well_ I'm _not taking it. You would have captured all of them when you went after Pete. I actually interfered and cost you a big payoff."

"Be that as it may, Steph, you did the take downs, you risked your life, you got hurt in the process, you saved Stella, you're getting the bond and reward money, end of story."

Holding back her Hungarian temper was causing Stephanie's eye to twitch. She pressed two fingers to the corner of her eye and glared at Ranger. "End of story? End of story? Why? Because you say so? I don't need another macho man in my life so why don't you just take your bossy ass home before it meets the end of my stun gun!"

The corner of Ranger's mouth twitched as he fought off a smile. She was so sexy and feisty! "Fine," he said.

He headed for the door and Stephanie followed him, surprised he was giving up so easily. She didn't really want him to leave, but she couldn't say that now.

Ranger put his hand on the door knob, but his eyes locked on to Stephanie's. "I'll be calling you every two hours to check on you because of the concussion."

Stephanie put her hands on her hips. "We don't even know that I have a concussion."

"We'd know if you'd gone to the hospital to get checked out. Now we'll just have to assume to be on the safe side."

"I'm not going to wake up every two hours all night to answer my phone," she said defiantly.

"No problem, I'll come over here every two hours and wake you up. It's not that far. Or, I could sleep in my truck. Yeah, that'll work."

"You're impossible!" Stephanie said, her voice rising. "You can't sleep in your truck all night. That's ridiculous. I'll answer the stupid phone."

Ranger gave her a tender smile. "That's great, Babe." He opened the door and stepped outside, then looked back over his shoulder. "Talk to you in a couple of hours. Oh, and I'll see you in the morning."

"There's no need to come check on me in the morning, Ranger."

"Not to check on you," he said, looking away to hide his grin. "We're office mates, remember. I have a key."

With that, he strode to his truck, climbed in and drove away. Two minutes later, his cell phone rang. He looked at the Caller I.D. and smiled. "Hello?"

"How could you just drive away and leave me here with a concussion?"

Ranger chuckled. "Stella said you'd be like this for a while."

There was a pause.

"Be like what?" Stephanie demanded.

"Liking me one minute, sending me away the next."

"Oh god," Stephanie whispered. "What the hell is wrong with me? Did she say how long it would last?"

"She didn't use these exact words," Ranger said, "but she implied it would be until you experienced your first Ranger induced orgasm."

"What!"

"Babe, I'm kidding. I was just trying to make you laugh."

"You don't value your life much, do you Mr. Funny Guy?"

"You're gonna kill me, Babe?"

"Not until I experience a Ranger induced orgasm," she said softly.

"Babe, you do realize I'm still on the line, don't you?"

"Oh shit!" she said, quickly disconnecting her phone.

**O-O-O**

**A/N - Thanks for reading. I'm sorry it's been a few days since my last chapter. Hope this longer than usual one makes up for it a bit. Warning: This chapter has not been edited. I only did a quick skim though. Hopefully, it's not too bad. If you see something awful, PM me or let me know in your review and I'll fix it a.s.a.p. Thank you for the reviews for the previous chapters. I love them!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

**What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?**

_**O-O-O**_

**_"You're gonna kill me, Babe?"_**

"Not until I experience a Ranger induced orgasm," she said softly.

"Babe, you do realize I'm still on the line, don't you?"

"Oh shit!" she said, quickly disconnecting her phone.

**_O-O-O_**

**Chapter 11**

Ranger chuckled and closed his phone. He was parked on the side of the road, two houses down from Stephanie's house. He started the truck, turned it around and drove back to her house.

Stephanie was looking in the refrigerator for something to eat and trying to get over her embarrassment of what she'd just said to Ranger on the phone. Good grief, she needed to get her head on straight. After she dumped Morelli and up until she met Ranger, she'd been a really competent, together woman. She groaned when she heard a knock at the door.

Peeking out the window, she saw Ranger's truck. Holy hell, how did he get back so quickly? She grabbed her stun gun and went to the front door, sliding the security chain into place. With the chain on, she was only able to open the door about 3 or 4 inches. Without looking outside, she stuck her arm out and pulled the trigger on the stun gun.

She heard Ranger chuckle softly so she shut the door, undid the chain and swung the door open. "I guess I missed?"

"Yeah, Babe, you missed," he answered with a smile.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping you'd let me in so I could cook dinner for us and we could talk."

Damn, he looked deliciously hot and his face and voice were so sexy and sweet. Stephanie stepped back and waved him in.

He followed her to the kitchen where she set the stun gun down on the counter and opened the refrigerator again. "I was just going to make a turkey sandwich and have some potato salad from the deli. That okay with you?"

Ranger stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "That's fine, except you're going to sit down and I'll make the sandwiches and dish out the potato salad." He kissed her head being careful to avoid her goose egg. Stephanie shivered as a series of tingles shot through her body from her chest to her lady parts and back again.

Releasing her, Ranger pulled out a chair at the table for her. "Sit."

"Thanks. I'm sorry I ruined our date."

"You didn't," Ranger said softly. We're having it right now. We can go to the restaurant some other time."

They were quiet while Ranger quickly put together two sandwiches and added some potato salad to each plate. "What would you like to drink, Steph?"

"Coke would be good."

Ranger got a can of Coke from the refrigerator, added ice to a glass and set them in front of Stephanie. He filled a glass with water for himself, grabbed two forks from the silverware drawer, and joined her at the table.

Stephanie could only stare curiously as she watched him move around her kitchen as though he lived there.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, then Stephanie said, "So now what?"

Ranger pushed his plate away and rested his forearms on the table. "You've been so helpful teaching me about bounty hunting, I wanted ... and want to teach you something in return."

"And what would that be?"

"Trust. The previous two men in your life did a number on you. I want to help you trust again so you'll want to be in a relationship instead of fighting it."

Stephanie's face scrunched up as she frowned. Trust? But you walked out on me!"

"Steph, you told me to leave. I wasn't afraid you'd actually stun my ass, but you should know, I'll always give you the space you need. In the future, if you get upset, but don't want me to leave, then don't tell me to leave. Take a deep breath or count to ten and think about what you actually need from me at that moment, then tell me. I'll always try to give you what you ask for."

"But ... but I could have a concussion!"

"True. That's why I was parked two houses away. I knew I could get back here quickly if you needed me. I'll never stray too far from you when you're hurt or upset. For the rest of my life, nothing will come before you. Not my friends, not my future business, not members of my family. I'll always put you first."

Stephanie's eyes grew wide as she listened to his words and saw the sincerity on his face.

"And," he said, continuing before she could say anything, "I came back when you called. Always and forever, if you call and let me know you need me, I'll be there as fast as I can. I can't read your mind though, so you'll need to be straight with me. I won't always be able to guess when _leave_ means _stay_ and I don't want you to feel like you can't tell me what you need. You can _always _tell me what you need."

Stephanie felt tears stinging her eyes, but blinked them back. Life with Ranger would be so different from what she experienced with the Dick and Morelli. There was a fluttering in her chest and she recognized it right away. The defensive shield protecting her heart was cracking and love was seeping out for this man as his love was flowing in. "Okay," she said, her voice low and filled with a bit of wonder. "That goes both ways, right? You'll let me know what you need from me?"

Ranger smiled widely and reached over to squeeze her hand. "Always." He paused for a beat. "Now how about you go get a blanket so we can snuggle up on the couch and talk and I'll clean up these dishes."

Stephanie stood. "Okay. What else did you want to talk about?"

"Us, Babe. We've kind of gotten ahead of ourselves a bit. We don't really know anything about each other. I don't know your age or birthday or if you have siblings or what your favorites things are. We have a lot to learn about each other before that Ranger induced orgasm can happen."

Stephanie felt her cheeks heat up and swiftly turned away from him. "I'll go find a blanket," she said, rushing from the room. She heard his soft chuckle as she hurried away. The man was an incorrigible tease and it was turning her on.

It only took Ranger a few minutes to clean up the kitchen. When he walked into the living room, he found Stephanie curled up on the couch. She'd changed into a pair of gray yoga pants, a white t-shirt and fuzzy pink and gray socks. "Steph, can I get you some aspirin or an ice pack?"

"No thanks, I'm good," she said smiling up at him. "I took two Tylenol about five-thirty."

Ranger looked at his watch. "Okay, you've got a while yet before you can take more. Is there anything else I can get you? Water, coffee, hot chocolate?"

She shook her head. "Not right now." She patted the spot on the couch next to her. "You don't have to fuss over me. Sit down and relax."

Ranger sat down next to her and removed his shoes, setting them aside. Then he reached over and pulled her onto his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, he tugged her closer and she leaned into him, resting the side of her face against his shoulder. It felt so good to be in his arms, she found herself relaxing almost immediately.

They spent the next couple of hours talking quietly. Stephanie told him about her sister Val, about her parents and about growing up in the Burg. She told him about the time she tried to fly by jumping off the roof; that she had a degree in business, and about her short-lived marriage to Dickie. Finally, she explained a bit about her relationship with Morelli.

Ranger told her about his large Cuban family, about what it was like growing up with four sisters and about his troubled teen years that led to him living in Florida for a while with his grandmother. He told her about leaving college after two years to join the Army, about his training and time with the Rangers and expanded on what he'd already told her about his plans to open a security company.

They shared middle names, ages, birth dates and some of their likes and dislikes. Ranger finished by telling her about Lester, Tank and Bobby showing up in town.

"I can't wait to meet them," Stephanie told him. "How long will they be here?"

Ranger placed a soft kiss on top her head. "I'm not sure. Tank and Bobby just got to my apartment a few minutes before I left to come over here. I haven't had a chance to talk to them yet."

Stephanie shifted away from his body enough to look at him. "Oh no! I'm sorry I'm keeping you away from your friends."

"Don't be. I care a lot about my friends, but I'd never choose to spend time with them over you." He cupped her face with his large hands and drew her to him, kissing her softly on her lips.

The kiss deepened and Stephanie reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. He was the perfect kisser. His lips were soft, yet firm and it was as though he knew exactly how she liked to be kissed. They broke momentarily for air, then his mouth covered hers again and they started all over, their tongues pressing together, then twisting and turning and wrapping around each other.

The next time they pulled apart, Ranger continued to kiss her, starting at the corner of her mouth, then moving along her jaw and down the side of her neck. Stephanie tilted her head back, sending him a silent invitation to move his mouth to her throat which he did.

He heard a soft moan escape her throat as his lips and tongue brushed over the soft spot at the base of her throat. Her moan elicited a low growl from him and he knew he needed to put on the brakes before they got carried away. She not only had a possible concussion, he didn't think she was ready for things to turn sexual. _Strike that_, he thought. Her body was definitely ready. She was clinging to him and pressing her breasts against his chest and her hands moved up to soothe his scalp as another soft sound of mounting desire escaped her sweet lips.

He gently pulled her hands from his hair and nudged her back a bit. "Babe, you have the sweetest mouth and skin a man could ever know. I could kiss you forever and never get tired of it."

Stephanie looked at him with glazed eyes. "I'm glad, because you certainly know how to kiss."

"Is your head okay, Steph? Your eyes look sort of glassy."

"My head feels fine," she said with a small smile. My eyes look glassy because this is what it looks like when you kiss someone senseless."

Ranger laughed softly and kissed her forehead. "Did Stella tell you anything new this afternoon?" he asked, changing the subject.

Stephanie nodded and settled back against his chest. "She said I was her daughter in the mid 16th century and you and I got married. Your name was Carlos back then, too."

She continued to tell him the rest of the information Stella shared with her, then said, "I think she's gone."

"Gone where, Babe?"

"I dunno, I just think she's gone and won't be back. She gave Eddie an envelope to give to me. I didn't even get to say goodbye to her."

"What was in the envelope?" Ranger prompted.

Stephanie tilted her head back and pressed a kiss against Ranger's neck. "I don't know. I haven't looked yet. I guess I just want to hold on to it for a while because once I open it I won't have anything else to look forward to from her. I don't think she's from here ... I mean this lifetime. Maybe she's a guardian angel or traveled here from another plane or something. I don't really know how all of that works, I just know I have a feeling inside that she's gone," she finished sadly.

Ranger gave her a gentle squeeze. "If you don't want to open the envelope alone, just let me know and we can do it together."

"Okay, I'll think about it," she told him. "Ranger?"

Yeah, Babe?"

"Will you stay with me tonight? Not for ... well, I mean, just stay and snuggle with me?"

Ranger cupped her face and softly kissed her mouth. "I'm not going anywhere, Steph ... unless you try to stun me again."

Stephanie snickered. "You're kind of chicken for a badass."

"Babe."

_O-O-O_

TBC ...


	12. Chapter 12

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

**What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?**

**Chapter 12**

When Stephanie opened her eyes the next morning, a smile immediately came to her lips and she felt giddy inside. Ranger was behind her, an arm slung over her waist, his face buried in her curls. She couldn't remember the last time she felt this happy.

True to his word, he woke her up every two hours throughout the night to make sure she wasn't suffering any negative ramifications from a concussion. A couple of times when he woke her up, they ended up making out for fifteen or twenty minutes before falling back into a peaceful slumber. The man could win an award for kissing, not to mention self-restraint. Damn.

She listened to his soft breathing for a few minutes while contemplating whether or not she could slip out of bed quietly enough to use the bathroom without disturbing him.

When she couldn't put it off any longer, she slowly slid out from under his arm and eased herself up from the edge of the bed.

"Babe?" His voice was low and slightly husky from sleep.

She looked back over her shoulder and saw him watching her, his sexy brown eyes darkening at the sight of her in her skimpy blue boy shorts and thin white tank top. "Be right back," she said softly.

Stephanie quickly took care of business, washed her hands and face and brushed her teeth, then ran a brush through her wild curls attempting to tame them a bit.

When she walked back into the bedroom, Ranger was just coming back up the ladder to the loft. He must have decided to use the bathroom downstairs.

The night before, he'd retrieved a duffel bag from his truck and changed into a pair of running shorts before bed. That's all he was wearing now and Stephanie froze in her tracks as she took in the sight of his bare arms and chest and his incredible chiseled abs. Even his legs and feet were were gorgeous enough to make a perfectly sculpted Greek statue weep.

She hadn't gotten a good look at him the previous night because she'd changed for bed in the bathroom and he was already changed and under the covers when she came out and there was very little light in the room. Just a soft glow provided by the nightlight in the bathroom.

Now, she had a full, clear view of him and he took her breath away. "Holy guacamole," she whispered under her breath. "What's your Social Security number?" she demanded.

Ranger raise a curious eyebrow, but rattled off his number.

Stephanie recited her Social Security number to him and then gave him a sexy smile. "I think we know enough about each other now, don't you?"

Ranger barked out a laugh and headed toward her with a big grin on his face, but stopped when she held up a hand indicating he should stay where he was. He watched with curiosity as she scurried over to the night stand and grabbed her cell phone.

She opened it and pretended to punch in 911. Holding the phone to the side of her face she said, "Yes, I'd like to report that there's a man in my bedroom and I believe his body is illegal in at least 24 states."

Ranger laughed, thoroughly enjoying her playful nature. After ten years of military service, she was a breath of fresh air and then some. He stuck his thumbs in the waistband of his running shorts and pushed down, causing them to slide to the floor.

Stephanie's eyes grew wide when his erection sprang out. It was pointed right at her, sort of like spin the bottle - she wins!

She pretended to speak into the phone again. "Make that 47 states," she squealed, snapping the phone shut and tossing it on the night stand. She climbed up on the bed and got to her feet doing a happy dance, causing Ranger to laugh out loud.

"What did the police say, Babe?" he asked, playing along.

She danced over to where he was standing beside the bed and pulled her tank top over her head, tossing it on the floor behind him. "They said finders keepers, losers weepers. Unless you object, you're all mine."

"That's music to my ears," he said, grabbing her around the waist.

Stephanie wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and crashed her mouth down on his.

r/s/rs/

Four hours later they were sitting at her kitchen table drinking coffee and eating bagels with cream cheese and strawberry jam. Stephanie got up and walked over to the counter to get the coffee pot to refill their cups.

Ranger watched her with concern. "Babe, you're walking a little funny. Are you okay?"

"Ha!" she said, looking over her shoulder at him. "I'm lucky I'm walking at all, Mr. Ed. We're not repeating what we did this morning for at least another twelve hours."

Ranger looked at his watch and gave her a smug smile. "It won't be easy, but I can live with that. Listen, Sweetie and Ranger Danger were bad enough. You're not going to call me Mr. Ed in public, are you?"

Stephanie refilled their cups and placed the glass decanter back on the heating plate of the coffee maker. "It depends on how nice you are to me," she said thoughtfully. She took her seat next to him and graced him with a glowing smile.

He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss. "Babe, I planning on being nothing _but _nice to you."

"How nice?" she asked, running her tongue across his bottom lip.

"Nice to the 24th power."

Stephanie grinned joyfully. "I guess I can come up with a name that will work in public."

"Thanks, Babe," he said softly. He ran his knuckles down her cheek and leaned in to give her another soft kiss. "I'm sorry if I hurt you this morning."

"You didn't hurt me, Ranger, I'm just sore and it's the best kind of sore, so stop worrying."

Ranger leaned his forehead against hers and slid his fingers into her hair, but before he could kiss her again, their intimate moment was interrupted by his cell phone.

He groaned, but leaned back in his chair and answered it. "Speak!"

"Hey Ranger. You lost?"

"No."

"Guess that means you got laid last night."

"Stifle it, Santos, if you know what's good for you."

"Sheesh, you've got it bad for this chick. When do we get to meet her?"

"Maybe some day when I'm really angry with her, I'll force her to spend time with you, Lester."

"When will that be?"

"Never."

"Damn. Possessive too," Lester said with a chuckle.

"Was there a point to this phone call?" Ranger asked impatiently.

"Just wondering when you're coming home."

Ranger looked at his watch. "I've got to stop by the bonds office to see if I have any new skips. After that, I'll be home to shower and change."

"Sounds good. We want to hear more about the bonds business. Money's good, right?"

"Damn good. You guys should think about getting into this with me."

"Cool. We'll talk about it when you get here," Lester said, disconnecting.

Ranger closed his phone and slid it into the pocket of his dress pants. "What are your plans today, Steph?"

Stephanie set her coffee cup aside and said, "I have two skips to trace today and then I'll be caught up. I'm not going to take on any more for a week or so. It'll be nice to have some free time."

"I'll help you fill that free time," Ranger said with a sexy smile.

"I was hoping you'd say that," she grinned back at him. "Listen, I have a pretty nice grill in the back yard, why don't you bring your friends over for dinner tonight and we'll cook out?"

Ranger thought it over for a minute. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. They came to town to see you and spend some time with you, and I want to get to know them. It'll be perfect."

"Okay, but the four of us can put away a lot of food. Why don't you make a list of what you need from the store and I'll pick it up."

"I don't think I need you to get anything food-wise, but you can pick up some beer and whatever else you think they'll want to drink."

"Steph, I don't want you paying to feed my friends."

"Grrr," Stephanie growled at him. "I have all kinds of food in the freezer. Are we going to have another argument about money already?"

Ranger paused, trying to think of the best way to answer that. Finally, he stood up and said, "I'm going to run by the bonds office. If Connie has any files for me, I'm going to go home and change and then I'll be back to run searches on them."

"Stephanie stood up and put her hands on her hips. "You didn't answer me!"

"I can't hear you," Ranger lied.

"You can't hear me?"

"That's right."

"You can't hear me?" she asked again with a frown.

"Not a word," he repeated with a smirk. "I'll be back with some skip files or I'll call you later." He kissed her quickly and headed to the front door.

"I'm charging my stun gun," she called after him. "And next time I won't miss!"

"I love you, too," he called over his shoulder as he let himself out.

r/s/r/s

When Ranger walked into the bonds office, Connie gave him three new files and a check for $5,000. "What's this?" he asked, holding up the check.

"For Pete Saffron," she told him. "One of the guys from the TPD stopped by and dropped off the body receipt."

"This should be made out to Stephanie," he told her.

"Stephanie? Why? I heard she was there, but I just assumed she was accompanying you."

Ranger shook his head. "Nope. I wasn't there. She took him down by herself."

"Holy crap," Connie said, her eyes wide.

"I agree. Thank god she wasn't hurt. She's amazing though."

Connie didn't miss the look of admiration on Ranger's face. And there was something else. She wondered if they were seeing each other, but didn't want to ask. She'd find out from Stephanie later.

"If you know where she banks, I'll just sign the back of this and deposit it in her account," Ranger said.

"Bank of America, 360 Hamilton Avenue," Connie told him.

"Thanks. You think they'll give me a problem about making a deposit into someone else's account?"

"Probably not, but Vinnie and I know everyone there. I'll call ahead for you."

"Thanks Connie, you're great," Ranger told her on his way out the door.

"Obviously not as great as Stephanie," she said with a grin once the door closed behind him. Damn, he was hot. Looked like Steph had snagged a winner this time.

TBC ...


	13. Chapter 13

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

**What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?**

**O~O~O**

**Chapter 13  
**

As Stephanie was loading the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher, there was a knock on the front door and excitement darted through her thinking Ranger may have come back already for some reason.

She was disappointed to see two men in dark blue suits when she opened the door. They were from the F.B.I. and spent forty minutes questioning her about Pete Saffron and the events that took place at Stella's house. They confirmed the amount of the rewards and told her to expect the money in two weeks or less.

Once they were gone, she showered, dressed in jeans and a light blue t-shirt, then changed the sheets and made her bed.

Grabbing her purse from the dresser, she perched on the end of the bed and pulled out the envelope from Stella, finally drumming up the courage to open it. Inside was a note and half of a rather large medallion with words etched on it. She read the note first.

Dearest Stephanie,

It was wonderful to see you and speak with you, but I'm afraid I must leave now. I've been here longer than I originally planned and I'm needed elsewhere.  
I wish you much happiness and many blessings with your Carlos. He will protect you and care for you without diminishing your identity and your love for him will cause him to always strive to be the most honorable of men. He adores you and desires you above all others and your love and passion for him will know no bounds.

The enclosed medallion piece will help the two of you over some of the bumpy patches along the way. You'll soon see how.

Much love to you, my child,

Stella

The note was so sweet, it almost brought tears to Stephanie's eyes. She folded it up and slid it back in the envelope. Picking up the medallion, she tried to read the words, but since half of them were missing, she couldn't decipher the message. She tucked it back in the envelope with the note. Standing and crossing the room, she slid the envelope into her lingerie drawer, tucking it under a scented sachet.

Back downstairs in her office, she checked her voicemail messages and started the two remaining searches she needed to complete. While the searches were building, she went to the kitchen and pulled five steaks from the freezer to thaw and checked to see how many frozen hamburger patties she had leftover from her last cookout. There were twelve of them which she figured would be plenty.

She started a large pot of water boiling to cook macaroni for macaroni salad. She knew she had cheese and crackers to make up a tray to snack on. She decided when her searches were finished, she'd head out to the deli to see what else she could find for the cookout. When she got home, she'd make deviled eggs.

r/s/r/s

A little over four hours later, Stephanie left the deli and decided to stop by the bonds office to say hello to Connie. It was only a few blocks away.

"Steph!" Connie said with a big grin. How the heck are you? I've been meaning to call you."

"I'm doing well," Stephanie told her. "A little pissed off at the moment, but I'll get over it."

"Who or what is pissing you off?"

Stephanie leaned on the counter in front of Connie's desk. "I just left the deli. I'm having company tonight and wanted some of their butter brickle bars, but they were all out. I love those things!"

"Oh yeah, those things are heavenly, but they go fast. The deli opens at 8 a.m. and I swear those things are gone by 9 a.m. They should make bigger batches."

"I agree. So, were you going to call me for any particular reason?"

Before Connie could answer, Stephanie felt a tingle at the back of her neck and heard the front door open. Both women looked up to see Ranger entering the office, a body receipt clenched in his right hand with his keys.

His face lit up when he saw Stephanie. "Babe," he said, hurrying to where she stood. He put an arm around her shoulders, squeezed her gently and kissed her head. He loosened his grip but kept his arm around her. Glancing up, he acknowledged Connie and handed her his body receipt.

"Babe," he said, turning his head back to Stephanie, "you look a little sad, is everything okay?"

Stephanie smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just crying on Connie's shoulder because the deli is out of butter brickle bars. It's a tragedy, you know."

Ranger and Connie laughed at the forlorn look on her face. "Babe, it's not considered a tragedy until Lifetime makes a movie about it."

Stephanie chuckled and bumped him with her hip. "Wise guy."

It took Connie a little longer than usual to write out Ranger's check because she kept trying to steal glances at the two of them. There was definitely something going on there.

Suddenly, Stephanie had an idea. Grabbing Ranger's arm she said, "Can I see you outside for a minute?"

Ranger gave her a brief nod and still holding his arm, Stephanie led him out to the alley that ran between the bonds office and the next building over. Pushing him back against the building, she stood up on her tiptoes and cupped his face, pulling him closer for a long, heated kiss.

When they finally broke apart to get some air, Ranger gave her a sexy grin. "Wow, what was that for?"

"I just missed you," Stephanie said breathlessly. "I need to ask you a question too."

"Anything, Steph, just ask."

"Would you mind if I invite Connie to the cookout tonight? I'll be the only female there with four Army guys if I don't. Not that I mind, but I thought it would be nice to have someone else there I know."

"Steph, you didn't need to check with me about that. It's your house. Invite whomever you like. I think Connie is a neat lady and it would be nice to have her there. I'm thinking she's just Bobby's type, but I'm not into matchmaking, so please don't repeat that," he said with a wink.

Ranger gently took her by the arms and turned her around. This time Stephanie was the one with her back against the building as Ranger pressed into her and kissed her with a lot of passion and tongue. Stephanie tightened her arms around his neck when she felt her knees grow weak and Ranger tightened his arms around her to support her.

His heart was racing fast and he wanted her so badly. He loved the way she responded to him and only pulled away when he could no longer deny his need for oxygen. Resting his forehead against hers, he breathed slowly and deliberately and finally loosened his hold on her. Leaning back to look into her eyes, he could see that her desire for him was as strong as his for her.

"I told the guys to be at your house at six," he told her. "But I thought I'd come by about five so we could have a little time alone together before they arrive. I can help you get things ready and light the fire for the grill."

Stephanie fanned her face with her hand. "If anyone can light a fire, it's you, Studly."

"Babe."

"Okay, okay, I'll come up with something else," she said with a grin.

Back inside the bonds office, Connie gave Ranger his check and the two woman watched as he walked out the door. They couldn't not watch, the man's ass was incredible.

Stephanie cleared her throat and Connie tore her gaze from the window and grinned as she looked at Stephanie. "So, you two are seeing each other?"

Steph couldn't help the wide smile that split her face. "Yep."

Connie rolled her eyes. "Yep? You've gotta give me more than yep. What's he like? Is he good in bed?"

"Connie!"

"Damn it, Stephanie! You don't have to give details, although I'd be all ears if you did, just throw me some tidbits."

Stephanie shrugged, not sure what to say. "He's great. Sweet, kind, gorgeous, great kisser ... the whole package."

"Yeah, and what a package!" Connie said, with a dreamy look on her face.

"Watch it, toots," Stephanie pretended to scold her. "That's my package. However, he's coming over to my house for a cookout tonight and bringing three of his Army buddies. I thought you might like to join us."

Connie's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Any of them hold a candle to him?"

"I haven't met them yet, but with three of them to choose from, I think you should come check them out. They'll be there at six," Steph told her.

"I'll be there at six too," Connie said with a grin plastered on her face.

O/O/O

At five o'clock on the dot, Ranger knocked at Stephanie's front door. She swung open the door to find him with his arms full of grocery bags.

"What is all this?" Steph asked, stepping aside to let him in.

Ranger headed to the kitchen and put the bags down on the counter. "Just a few things I picked up for tonight. I know you said you didn't need me to buy anything, but I stopped at the store for something I needed, then just started putting things in my cart, like a man possessed."

Stephanie laughed and started to unload the bags. "Holy cow! There's a lot of stuff here. We'll never go through all the food between what I have ready and what you brought."

Ranger reached into one of the bags while Stephanie was preoccupied with his purchases and pulled out a smaller bag, hiding it in her freezer before she could see it.

Crossing the room and taking the coffee cake box from her, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a soft, but lingering kiss. Breaking it off, he said, "We don't have to eat everything tonight. I'm sure whatever is left over won't go to waste."

"True," Stephanie agreed, reaching around him and grabbing the coffee cake box again. "This looks delicious," she said dreamily, staring through the clear plastic top. "Is raspberry your favorite coffee cake flavor?"

"Babe, I don't usually eat things like coffee cake. At least not on a regular basis. All that sugar is bad for you. I just brought some sweet things for everyone else.

"You're an angel," she told him, slipping from his arms to empty the other bags. "Ooh, homemade chocolate chip cookies, Ritz crackers and ham and cheese logs, baked beans from the deli, spicy hot wings and honey barbecue wings with ranch dip, homemade overstuffed ravioli from Giovichinni's. Man, you went all out here."

Ranger shrugged. "I want tonight to be special. My best friends are meeting my best girl and I want everyone to relax and have fun. Which reminds me, I need to get the beer and ice from the truck. I'll be right back." Giving her a chaste kiss on her cheek, he disappeared from the kitchen.

While she waited for him to return, she pulled some large plastic bowls from the cupboards and filled two with potato chips and two with tortilla chips. She then poured salsa into some smaller bowls and started arranging a tray with cheese and crackers. She already had sliced cheese and chunk cheese and now she had Ranger's ham and cheese logs to add to the tray. With three different types of crackers and four kinds of cheese, the results were pretty and looked very appetizing.

She heard a noise in the back yard and crossed the kitchen to open the sliding glass door to the patio. She found Ranger loading cans of beer and Coke and diet Coke into two coolers along with some bags of ice.

Once that chore was out of the way, he dumped charcoal into the base of the large grill and got the fire going.

Stephanie covered the picnic table with a large plastic red and white checkered tablecloth then started carrying out paper plates, utensils, condiments and the chips and appetizers. Ranger was at the kitchen counter sprinkling salt and pepper on the hamburger patties and rubbing a dry rub into the steaks. Stephanie got a sharp knife and started slicing tomatoes and onions for the burgers.

Everything was under control when Connie showed up at 5:55 and the guys at 5:59. Ranger made the introductions and ushered everyone to the back yard. Spirits were high and everyone was smiling. Who could resist a cookout with good friends and good food?

**A/N - Sorry to cut this chapter off at an odd point, but if I didn't, it would be another 24 hours before you got a new chapter. I apologize for getting a bit behind and want to thank all of you once again for your excellent reviews. I love them!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle**

What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?

**_O~O~O_**

Chapter 14

Laughter and friendly chatter filled the air and Stephanie was never more happy she had purchased a house with a large back yard.

Ranger opened a cooler and handed out cans of beer and the guests gravitated toward the picnic table. He looked at Stephanie and raised an eyebrow. "I'll have a Coke, please. If I start drinking beer now, I'll be wasted before the steaks are ready."

Ranger smiled and handed her a can of Coke. "I'm looking forward to seeing you wasted one of these days. Are you a mean drunk or a happy drunk?"

Stephanie let out a small laugh. "I'm an overly friendly, overly affectionate drunk," she confessed.

Ranger moved closer to her and crooked an arm around her neck. Bringing his mouth close to her ear, he said, "I'll keep that in mind in case our relationship ever needs a jump-start."

Stephanie slipped her arms around his waist and whispered back, "You think our relationship will ever need a jump-start?"

"No, but every couple thinks that when they start out, so I'm just going to keep collecting bits of information for future reference."

"Sounds romantic," Stephanie said, not being able to stop the giggle that burst forth from her lips.

"Get a room," they heard from behind them.

They turned toward the picnic table and the whole group started laughing at the look of surprise on Stephanie's face.

"Santos," Ranger growled. "You're lucky I don't have a place in Trenton set up with mats yet, but you'll be the first one on them when I do."

This caused another round of chuckling from the other guests. The man Ranger introduced as, Tank, reached out and gave Lester a smack on the back of his head. "Behave yourself, dumbass."

Tank was a mountain of a man, probably 6'5", Stephanie decided, with smooth black skin, muscles upon muscles, a great smile and a bald head.

Lester also had a lot of muscles, but his stature was nothing close to Tank's. He was closer to Ranger's 5'10" or 5'11" and around the same weight. He wore his short golden brown hair spiked and had glittering green eyes that threw sparks at Tank in response to his admonishment. Stephanie had seen him smile when he first arrived and knew he had perfect white teeth and was gorgeous when he smiled.

"You people need to lighten up," Lester complained. "I was just joking around, trying to have some fun."

Stephanie felt bad that Lester was the center of attention and not in a good way. "Everything is cool," she told him. She wanted to tell him, _no offense taken_, but apparently Ranger had taken offense and she didn't want to negate his feelings. "Help yourselves to the snacks on the table while I go check to see if the steaks are ready for the grill."

"Babe," Ranger said, "You have a seat and I'll go check on the steaks. I'm the cook tonight. I'm also going to add some seasonings to the hamburger patties. You can start getting acquainted with my friends."

Stephanie started to protest and offer to go with him, but he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss, then nudged her toward the table. "Okay." She didn't want to challenge him in front of his friends so she decided to let him call the shots in this particular situation.

Ranger headed inside and Stephanie sat down next to Connie who was sitting next to Bobby. The two of them were deep in conversation about something, leaning close and speaking in whispered tones. Steph thought that was interesting since they just met.

Bobby was a black man with movie star good looks. His brown eyes were graced with incredibly long, dark lashes and his hair was cut short. He was smiling at whatever Connie had just said to him and then they both let loose with conspiratorial snickering.

Lester's voice dragged her attention away from Connie and Bobby. "So, Stephanie, just what are your intentions toward Ranger?"

Stephanie looked at him closely to try to determine if he was kidding or not. There was no sparkle or amusement in his eyes so she could only conclude he was serious.

"Are you his father?" Stephanie asked, injecting her tone of voice with humor to cover her irritation.

"Knock it off, Santos," Tank said, glaring at him.

"Yeah, you need to chill," Bobby said.

Lester fixed his gaze on Stephanie and ignored his friends. "No, I'm not his father, I'm his cousin and he's my best friend. I think I have the right to know what you're up to. To know what it is you've done to have him wrapped around your little finger in such a short time."

Stephanie was getting pissed, but didn't want to go into rhino mode on one of Ranger's friends the first time they met. She remained calm and said, "He's not wrapped around my little finger and you can be sure I don't have any bad intentions toward Ranger."

Lester was a bit surprised she hadn't gone ape-shit on him for being so brash with her. "It seems to me," he said, "Ranger only likes you because you're beautiful, smart and nice."

Connie, Bobby and Tank burst out with laughter. "You're an idiot, Santos," Bobby said. "What man wouldn't fall for a woman who was beautiful, smart and nice?" He was talking about Stephanie, but everyone noticed he was looking at Connie when he said it.

Stephanie was sitting across the table from Lester and Tank. She leaned forward a bit and smiled at Lester. "Listen, if it'll make you feel any better, I'll change, just to relieve your mind."

Lester cocked an eyebrow. "You'll change how? What do you mean?"

Stephanie tilted her head to the side. "Tomorrow, I'll wake up ugly, dumb and mean and we'll see if he still likes me."

The group erupted with laughter again and after a long beat, Lester joined them. "Maybe you're alright," he said grudgingly. But, I'll be keeping an eye on you."

"Okie dokie," Stephanie said, straining not to roll her eyes at him. It was kind of cute that he was so concerned about Ranger's well-being.

The sliding glass door slid open and Ranger walked out carrying the tray of steaks, setting it on a card table Stephanie had set up near the grill. "Connie and Stephanie, I need to know how you like your steak. I already know the guys want theirs medium."

"Medium for me too," Connie and Stephanie said in unison.

"Good, it's unanimous. That makes things easy," he said with smile.

Stephanie was sitting at the end of the table closest to him and felt a shimmer of heat course through her when he winked at her before turning to start placing the steaks on the grill.

"Stephanie," Connie said, getting her attention, "I drove past here this morning and saw two men in dark suits walking to your front door. Did you know them?"

"Nah, they were from the F.B.I. and were asking me questions about Pete Saffron." She turned to Ranger then. "Oh, by the way, Ranger, they said your reward money would be here in two weeks or less."

Ranger had all the steaks on the grill and grabbed his beer, then slid onto the bench seat next to Stephanie. "You mean _your_ reward, Babe."

"No, I mean _your_ reward. We've discussed this already, remember?"

Things grew quiet at the table as everyone turned curious ears and eyes to the pair at the end.

"Yes, I remember, but the conclusion was, the money goes to you. You made the captures."

Stephanie sat up straighter. "I don't remember any such conclusion. I remember telling you that I interfered with your capture and that the money would be going to you!"

"Babe ... "

Stephanie lowered her voice and interrupted him. "No, don't Babe me. I said it before and I'll say it again, Pete Saffron was assigned to you. If I had not gone to see Stella, none of this would have happened. He was yours to bring in and you would have captured the other two. I'm not taking money that doesn't belong to me."

Ranger noticed the conversation held everyone's attention. "Listen, Babe. Why don't we ask our friends what they think since we can't seem to agree on this?"

Stephanie glanced around the table and saw the rapt attention on the faces of their friends. "Okay, deal."

Ranger briefly explained the situation to everyone. When he was done he said, "So, who should get the money? "Let's start with you, Tank."

Tank looked from Ranger to Stephanie as he thought over the details of the story. "I think Stephanie should get the money. She made the captures."

"Good," said Ranger. "Lester, what do you think?"

Lester cleared his throat. "For one thing, I want to hear more about how Stephanie captured three fugitives on her own. That aside, I say, if she legitimately captured them by herself, she should get the money."

"I agree," Ranger said. "Connie, what say you?"

"I can see both sides of it," Connie told him. "Stephanie made the captures, but the skip was signed out to you. "I think splitting the money might be the way to go."

"But I didn't earn any of it," Ranger pointed out before turning to Bobby. "You're the last one, Bobby. Who should get the money?"

"I'm actually hesitant to get in on this," Bobby said. "I'm not sure your friends should be deciding the outcome. But, if you truly can't come to an agreement, maybe you should split it. Or, you could flip a coin."

Ranger raised up a bit from the bench seat and reached into his pocket, pulling out a handful of change. "We can do that, if Stephanie agrees." He held out his hand to Steph. "Babe, would you like to pick a coin to toss?"

Stephanie's eyes grew wide as she looked at the change in his hand. Among the coins was what looked like the missing half of the medallion she had upstairs. She plucked it from his hand and held it up. "Ranger, where did you get this?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I found it on the seat of my truck the other day. No idea where it came from. I've been carrying it as a good luck piece. Do you recognize it?"

"Yes! I need to talk to you inside," she said, scrambling from her seat at the table.

Ranger rose to follow her. "Tank, you're in charge of the steaks until I get back," he said over his shoulder.

He followed Stephanie into the house and then up the stairs. In her bedroom, she opened the dresser drawer and pulled out the envelope. "This is the envelope Stella gave me," she explained, crossing over to sit on the end of the bed.

Ranger sat next to her and waited while she opened the envelope and slid something out. She held it up and his eyes grew wide. It appeared to be the other half of his good luck medallion.

She handed Ranger's half back to him right-side-up and then held out her half the same way. Her eyes met with Ranger's for a moment, then they both looked down and touched the jagged middle edges of the medallion together to make it whole.

As soon as the medallion edges fit together, it produced a small golden flash of light and Stephanie felt a tingle run up her arm. Startled, she dropped her half and jerked her eyes to Ranger's. "Did you feel that?"

"The tingle?" he asked. "Yeah, I did. The thing flashed or glowed or something too," he said, leaning down to pick up her half from the floor.

Fitting the two pieces back together, Ranger noticed there was no glow or tingle when he held the two pieces by himself. He read the message aloud**_:_**

_**Love is a union that grows**_  
**_By _**_**sharing with the one person**_  
_**You can't imagine being without**_.

He handed one half to Stephanie and said, "try it again," while holding out his half. Step held her half to his and once again, when the edges came together, there was a soft glow of light and the same tingle she felt before shot up her arm. "It doesn't work when just one of us puts them together," she said, stating the obvious.

"I think that's part of the message, Babe," Ranger said softly, leaning over to give her a soft kiss.

"There was a note," Stephanie told him. Stella said this would help us over some of the bumps in life or something like that. Maybe this is trying to tell us to split the money."

Ranger was quiet for a few moments as he thought it over. "I think it's a bit different, Steph. I think splitting and sharing are slightly different. My guess is, it's saying we should share the money, not split it."

Stephanie wrinkled her brow. "What's the difference?"

"If we split it, we each get half and half is not as much as a whole. If we share it, we open an account in both our names, put all the money in the account, and decide together what to use it for."

Steph looked up at him with a big grin. "You're not only gorgeous, you're brilliant." She wrapped her arms around his neck and they shared a long kiss.

When they moved apart, she said, "What do you think the glow and tinging are all about? I mean, how does that happen?"

Ranger shook his head a bit. "I have no idea why it happens with this particular medallion, but I imagine is has something to do with our connection. There seems to be a lot of energy that passes back and forth when we're together. For some reason, this medallion acts as a conductor."

Stephanie smiled at his explanation and slid her half of the medallion back into the envelope and got up to put it back in her drawer. "I guess we should get back to our guests," she said with a sigh. "Once they're gone, I'm going to drag you back up here for another kind of connection."

Ranger dropped his medallion half back in his pocket, then grabbed her and pulled her close, giving her a long, hard kiss. "You can't drag me up here because I'll be waiting for you when you get to the top of the stairs."

r/s/r/s

When they reached the back yard, Tank was getting ready to serve up the steaks. Steph and Ranger had to hurry to get the other food outside. There were a lot of oohs, aahs and yums as more and more food was added to the table.

Finally, everyone was eating and chatting and having a great time. The guys asked Stephanie to explain how she got involved in bounty hunting and during her explanation they found out that Connie was the one Ranger picked up his skip files from so they had questions for her too.

At one point, Lester asked, "So, Stephanie, how much was the biggest bond you earned when you were bringing in skips?"

Stephanie and Connie exchanged a grin, then Steph said, "That would be fifty thousand dollars."

"So you got five thousand from that right? Not a bad paycheck."

"No," Stephanie said. "The bond was five hundred thousand. My cut was fifty thousand."

There was silence all around the table for a couple of beats and Lester almost choked on his beer. "Fifty thousand was your cut? Holy moley. Was the dude a serial killer or mass murderer or something?"

The guys were all excited waiting for the story.

"No, he was a Trenton police officer who had been accused of shooting an unarmed man. Turns out he was innocent."

"Babe," Ranger said. "You went after a cop accused of murder?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah, the guy you saw at the diner the other day. Joe Morelli."

"He's the one you said you dated." Ranger looked shocked.

"Well I didn't start dating him until after I found out he was innocent and the charges were dropped."

"That right there is a crazy story," Tank said.

"No doubt," Bobby agreed. "Fifty thousand bucks for hauling in an innocent man."

"I want in on this gig," Lester said, looking at Ranger.

"Me too," Tank agreed.

"Count me in," Bobby said. "I'm ready to move here and get started. Are there enough skips to go around?"

"Not for all four of you working from one office," Connie told him. "There are a lot more low bond skips than high bond skips. But you can work for more than one bonds office. There are nine or ten bail bonds offices in Trenton alone. Tons more in the surrounding area."

As the guys were high-fiving each other across the table, Ranger said, "Okay, enough shop talk for one night." Looking at Stephanie, he said, "Babe, do you have a basketball for that basketball net hanging from your garage?"

"Sure do," she told him. It's in the garage. I also have lawn darts and a croquet set in there if you get bored shooting baskets."

Ranger said, "Lester, you get the basketball. Tank, help me move the cars. Connie, can we get your keys so we can move your car?"

"Sure." Connie dug her keys from her purse and tossed them to Ranger.

"Since I didn't get an assignment, I'm going to help carry some of this leftover food inside," Bobby told them.

"After Tank and I move the cars, I'll bring out a trash bag and help clear the throw-away stuff," Ranger said.

"After I find the basketball, I'll gather up the beer and pop cans," Lester offered.

"Nothing like team work," Stephanie said, beaming at them. "I think I'm going to like hanging out with you guys."

r/s/r/s

Once it was too dark to shoot baskets, they all moved to the back yard again. Ranger reminded everyone who would be driving that they needed to stop drinking well ahead of time. The patio lights gave off enough light to play lawn darts and that kept everyone occupied for another two hours. Stephanie had put on a pot of coffee and then made a second one when the first was gone.

By the time everyone left, she was happy and exhausted. She and Ranger stood in the driveway, each with an arm around the other as they watched their guests drive away. She noticed that Bobby got Connie's phone number from her before she left and that made her smile. Connie had been looking for a good man for quite some time. Maybe Bobby would turn out to be that man.

Hand in hand they wandered back into the house and Ranger led Stephanie to the kitchen.

"I was kind of thinking you'd be ready to go upstairs," she said, bumping her hip against him.

"I am, but I have a little surprise for you first."

She squealed as Ranger picked her up and deposited her on the countertop. "Hang on just a sec," he said, giving her a soft kiss.

She watched as he got a small brown bag from the freezer and a spoon from the drawer. Walking back over to the counter, he settled himself between her legs and pulled a pint sized carton from the bag.

"Ice cream?" Stephanie asked, surprised.

Ranger held up the carton so she could read it.

"Awww," she said, a smile lighting up her face. "Butter Brickle ice cream. You remembered my crisis from earlier."

Ranger smiled as he pulled the lid from the carton. "I couldn't have Lifetime showing up in Trenton to make a movie about you, Babe."

He fed her a spoonful and laughed when she moaned with delight. "You're killing me, Steph."

"Not yet I'm not," she said, opening her mouth for another bite. Once it slid down her throat, she said, "God, I can't believe how good this is. I'm really going to enjoy your niceness to the 24th power."

Ranger spooned another bite into her open mouth. "So, what would you like to do with the money, Babe?"

"I was thinking about that while you guys were playing basketball. Why don't we use it toward getting your security business off the ground?"

"You want to go into business together?" He sounded surprised.

"I already have a business. The security business would be yours, but I'll help with whatever you need. I could put my business degree to work."

"I'd rather be partners, Babe. We'll need someone with a business degree and someone to run searches on the tough skips and once the security part is going and we hire more people, we'll need someone to run background checks on potential clients and employees."

Stephanie gazed into his soft brown eyes. "Partners? Only if you're sure that's what you want."

"One hundred percent sure," he said, feeding her another bite of ice cream.

She moaned again and said, "Thank you, Ranger."

"You're welcome, Babe, but it's just a little ice cream."

"No, I meant thank you for finding me again ... in this lifetime."

He flashed her a two hundred watt smile, then his face turned serious. "As long as the universe allows it, I'll always find you, Babe."

**O~O~O**

**_The End_**

**A/N - Thank you for reading along. I hope you enjoyed the story. I apologize for the lack of smut. I tried it and just couldn't get it to not sound ridiculous. It must take some practice to get it right and I just wasn't getting it right. I'm sorry I still haven't gotten the replies out for the feedback from the last chapter. Now that the story is finished, I'll get to all of them for this chapter, fo shizzle! **


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